Twitter to open-source its algorithm code

Twitter chief Elon Musk said the source code of the social network’s algorithms could be opened next week.

Prepare to be disappointed at first when our algorithm is made open source next week, but it will improve rapidly!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2023

“Prepare to be disappointed when the algorithm becomes open,” Musk replied to the call to make the source code publicly available.

In addition, the billionaire added that “it will improve rapidly.”

The seriousness of the company’s intentions remains unclear. Earlier, Musk repeatedly spoke of the need to provide public access to the source code of the feed-ranking algorithms.

This was also one of Musk’s main promises when he first stated his intention to acquire the social network.

Opening the source code could also reduce pressure from lawmakers and regulators on Twitter. At present, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering arguments about the role of the YouTube algorithm in recommending videos to users. The final ruling could affect the entire industry, industry representatives say.

Additionally, opening the source code of the algorithm could shift focus from the controversy over the prominence of Musk’s tweets, even to users who do not follow him.

According to reports by some outlets, the head of the company asked engineers to find out why his own activity on Twitter had fallen sharply. The developers altered the algorithm that had boosted the number of his tweets.

Musk called such behavior of the model a bug and said it had been fixed.

Several major media sources incorrectly reported that my Tweets were boosted above normal levels earlier this week.

A review of my Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months, especially as a ratio of followers, shows this to be false.

We did have a bug that briefly caused… https://t.co/nM3SgUfoM7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2023

Earlier, former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey expressed disappointment at the lack of open and verifiable protocols. Before selling the company, he shared his thoughts with Musk, who called them a “super-interesting idea”.

In April 2022 experts questioned whether opening the algorithm’s source code would solve Twitter’s problems.

In May, Musk blamed the social network’s recommendation system for manipulating users.