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| Musk: Twitter's algorithms are manipulating users |
Elon Musk said Twitter users were manipulated by the site's timeline algorithm, prompting founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey to respond.
This marks the latest development in Musk's turbulent takeover of the company, and in a new tweet, Musk said the platform's default timeline, which displays tweets based on user popularity and interest, should be replaced.
“You are being manipulated by algorithms in ways you don't even realize,” Musk said. He asked his followers to pin the timeline to see the latest tweets by clicking on the star in the top right corner of the screen.
Dorsey disagreed with Musk, saying the job was a way to keep followers informed and change easily.
Dorsey tweeted: “It's designed to save you time after you haven't used the app for a while. Pulling to refresh also brings you back in reverse order.
Dorsey then responded to a tweet from another user who said the feature was supposed to be fake but could have consequences.
No, says Dorsey, they are not designed to be manipulated. Designed to help you and show what you care about. This could have unintended consequences. Dorsey thinks the current option is the best.
Hours later, Musk responded to himself, saying the manipulation was unintentional via Twitter. He said, "I'm not saying the algorithm is malicious, but it's trying to guess what you might want to read." As a result, they manipulate or exaggerate your opinions without even realizing it.
Added: Not to mention potential errors in the code. Open Source is the solution to trust and efficiency.
Twitter's algorithm has been a major talking point for Musk, and he wants it to be open source to bolster trust in the platform, as he said the acquisition is awaiting confirmation that only 5% of the site's accounts fall into the bot category.
Twitter founder interacts with Musk
Musk suspects the number is higher and says he took a random sample of 100 Twitter followers. When the user asked him to explain the bot filtering process, he replied: I chose 100 sample numbers because Twitter uses this number to count 5% of fake, spam, and fake accounts.
Musk said he does not see any analysis showing that the social media company has fewer than 5% fake accounts and the number of fake accounts likely to exceed 90% of daily active users.
The CEO of electric car maker Tesla said that Twitter's legal team accused him of violating a nondisclosure agreement when he revealed that the social media platform verified a sample of 100 self-driving users.