New York (EFE).- The social network Twitter released most of the source code this Friday that is used, among other things, to fix the algorithms, as announced by its team of engineers, who described it as the beginning of “a new era of transparency.
Immediately, Elon Musk, the magnate who owns the network, retweeted it and explained that with this open source “third parties will be able to determine with reasonable accuracy what is likely to be displayed to users.”
He admitted that this will bring “many embarrassing issues” to the surface, but vowed that they would be resolved promptly.
The company’s blog explains that code that could compromise the security and privacy of users or “the ability to protect our platform” has been excluded.
It also does not include the code that drives the platform’s advertising recommendations.
The operation of the algorithms represents one of the most powerful tools of Twitter and of all social networks, since they determine what will be the “feed” or flow of information that appears in each user’s account.
The algorithm, altered after the arrival of Musk
Since Musk took sole ownership of Twitter at the end of last October, it was clearly noticeable how the algorithm had changed for things as obvious as the more frequent appearance of advertising and the preeminence of Musk’s own tweets in the “feed”. from any account, whether or not it was a Musk follower.
In addition, many users complained that numerous accounts they followed had fallen in the feed below many others they were not interested in, and wondered why.
All these changes seem to be part of the Twitter redesign strategy that Musk has carried out and that include, for example, that as of April 15, only verified accounts on the social network, that is, those that pay a fee, they may be recommended to other users.
“Twitter Blue”
Musk published a tweet last Tuesday in which he announced these new measures that involve a reorganization of the so-called “Twitter Blue”, a rating that is applied to accounts that pay a fee to achieve verification and thereby obtain a blue mark.
The businessman of South African origin affirmed that the measure is the only realistic way to approach the control of the swarms of ‘bots’ of artificial intelligence that interfere in the network through content generated automatically by means of computer programs.
The measure, according to the CEO of Twitter, also implies that only verified subscribers will be able to vote in the polls carried out on the popular social network.