Billionaire and current Twitter CEO Elon Musk laid out a time frame for making Twitter’s recommendation code open source and publicly labeling shadowbanning Friday.
Musk is vowing to enact those changes “no later than next month.” It appears to be an effort to cultivate public trust and make good on his prior commitments to the company to make its algorithms open source, meaning available for the public to inspect.
ADVERTISERS HESITANT TO RETURN TO TWITTER DUE TO MUSK UNPREDICTABILITY
“Twitter will publish tweet recommendation code & make account/tweet status visible no later than next month. Transparency builds trust,” he tweeted.
Twitter will publish tweet recommendation code & make account/tweet status visible no later than next month.
Transparency builds trust.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 13, 2023
Account status is expected to show whether a tweet or account is being throttled due to violations of Twitter policy. Currently, Twitter notes when accounts or tweets were suspended or removed but does not divulge when content is “shadowbanned” or devalued in its algorithms to curtail the spread of flagged material on the platform.
“Twitter is working on a software update that will show your true account status, so you know clearly if you’ve been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal,” Musk explained in December.
Leading up to his takeover, Musk chided the company for stomping on individual free speech. During a dust-up with the company in May, in which he sought to back out of an acquisition deal over the alleged prevalence of bot accounts, he implored the company to make its code open source.
“That is why we must clear out bots, spam & scams. Is something actually public opinion or just someone operating 100k fake accounts? Right now, you can’t tell. And algorithms must be open source, with any human intervention clearly identified. Then, trust will be deserved,” he tweeted at the time.
That is why we must clear out bots, spam & scams. Is something actually public opinion or just someone operating 100k fake accounts? Right now, you can’t tell.
And algorithms must be open source, with any human intervention clearly identified.
Then, trust will be deserved.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022
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Since his takeover, Musk has enacted a flurry of changes. He added features that showcase tweet views and allow users to sift between tweets recommended “for you” and tweets that accounts are “following.” He has also slashed the company’s workforce dramatically and publicly sought to orient the platform in a more free speech direction, though some high-profile liberal accounts were briefly suspended for alleged doxxing.
Musk also gave multiple reporters access to Twitter so they could release the so-called Twitter Files, which detail the company’s past practices on content moderation.
In his capacity as the self-proclaimed “Chief Twit,” Musk has become more forthcoming with his political views, often giving conservative-leaning commentary that has annoyed the Left.
Following a controversy involving reporter accounts that were temporarily booted from the platform, Musk posted a poll in which a majority of users demanded he step down as CEO. He agreed but has not appointed a replacement.
