April 3, 2023

Twitter has made available some of its computer code, which governs how it recommends material to its users. This move was made in response to Elon Musk’s plea for greater openness in the platform’s functioning.

The goal is for engineers and consumers to obtain a better understanding of the algorithm’s operation and suggest improvements.

Musk feels that by making this change, consumers would have more faith in the platform and it will operate better. The code is available in two Github repositories and includes the recommendations algorithm, which handles the tweets that users see on their timeline. The rest of the code, according to Musk, will be available soon.

Twitter’s algorithm will be updated every 24 to 48 hours depending on user ideas. Elon Musk and Twitter staff had a session on the platform’s audio chat tool Spaces to discuss recommendations and offer answers regarding the code. During the debate, one user inquired as to why the code seemed to identify individuals as Republicans or Democrats. According to a Twitter staffer, this function was outdated and no longer relevant to the recommendation system, and it was slated for removal.

The code’s release answers legislators’ and consumers’ worries about how social media sites pick material for users. Twitter, on the other hand, has prohibited any programming that may threaten user safety or privacy, as well as any information that could undermine attempts to prevent child sexual abuse content on the network. The code in charge of Twitter’s ad suggestions has also been removed.

Twitter announced in a blog post that the release of the code marked the start of a new era of openness for the network. The firm has asked the community to submit feedback on the algorithm through Github problems and pull requests. Nevertheless, it has declared that it would continue to release code that does not pose substantial dangers to the platform or its users.

The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.