We now know why Twitter’s algorithm seems to recommend certain users’ tweets so often. Newsletter Platform indicates that the company has a secret VIP list of a few dozen accounts “it monitors and provides increased visibility” in its recommendation algorithm. The accounts include Elon Musk, along with a handful of other prominent Twitter users.
The revelation comes as Musk has Many times promised to make Twitter’s recommendation algorithms open source. He also said recently that soon only paid Twitter Blue subscribers will be Be eligible to have their tweets displayed in the algorithmic “For You” feed. It’s unclear if this change would also affect the VIP list of users who regularly get a boost in the stream. Some of the accounts on the list, like President Joe Biden and YouTuber Mr Beast, are currently verified but don’t pay for Twitter Blue. Twitter no longer has a communications team to answer questions.
According Platform, the VIP list was “originally created to monitor the engagement received by power users of Twitter”, as the company tried to dispel suspicions that its “shadow bans” certain users to reduce their visibility on the platform. “Our ‘algorithm’ is too complex and not fully understood internally,” Musk said recently. tweeted.
But the list, which is said to include only 35 accounts besides Musk, also indicates who Musk thinks should benefit from Twitter’s algorithm. Platform did not release the full list, which includes LeBron James, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, venture capitalist Marc Andreesen, Tesla fan account @teslaownerssv and conservative personality Ben Shapiro. It also includes @catturd2, an account recently describe by rolling stone as “Sh-tposting King of MAGA Twitter”.
It’s also not the first time a report has surfaced of how Musk tweaked Twitter’s algorithm to boost his own tweets. Last month, Musk said the company was fixing an issue that was causing users’ For You streams to show up. outmoded with dozens of Musk tweets. Platform later reported that Twitter employees changed its algorithm to favor Musk after the CEO was furious that his Super Bowl tweet didn’t receive as much engagement as Biden’s. Musk reportedly fired an engineer who suggested the lack of engagement was due to declining interest in his tweets.
