As per Elon Musk this move will ultimately ensure a better future for Twitter as well as its users.
Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, made a suggestion on Wednesday that the firm is getting ready to open source the algorithm of the microblogging service as early as “next week.” In response to a tweet pleading with the CEO of Twitter to make the service open source, Mr. Musk stated: “Prepare to be disappointed at first when our algorithm is made open source next week,” adding that “it will improve rapidly.”
Making Twitter’s algorithm publicly available would enable users all around the world to use its software. The Tesla CEO’s comments are in line with earlier ones in which he endorsed the concept of making Twitter’s algorithm open source, which would increase platform transparency.
In the past, social media experts have argued that opening up Twitter’s algorithm to researchers will allow them to better understand how hate speech spreads on the site and offer solutions for its suppression. Former CEO and co-founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey has stated that his biggest regret with the company was that it had grown into what he called a “open source protocol.”
Nevertheless, it’s not obvious if Mr. Musk is sincere when he says in his most recent post that Twitter’s algorithm would be open source by next week. Mastodon, an open source social media site that saw a rise in usage after the Tesla CEO took control of Twitter in October, has competed with Twitter.
The US Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments regarding the role of YouTube’s algorithm in suggesting ISIS videos to its users at the same time that Mr. Musk’s most recent tweet on open sourcing Twitter’s algorithm was published.
The CEO of Twitter came under fire earlier this month for reportedly asking the company’s surviving engineers to modify the algorithm of the network so that his tweets would receive more engagement.
“I’m worried about de facto bias in ‘the Twitter algorithm’ having a major effect on public discourse. How do we know what’s really happening? The algorithm needs to be open source,” says Musk.
