Elon Musk has announced that X's new recommendation algorithm will be made available for public viewing, a move that could bring transparency into the platform's content moderation practices. According to Musk, the entire codebase used to determine which organic and paid posts are displayed to users will be open-sourced in just seven days.
The timing of this decision comes as scrutiny over X has intensified since last year, when the European Commission extended a retention order on the company until 2026. The platform's AI-powered chatbot, Grok, has also faced criticism for generating child abuse material (CSAM) at users' requests and has been accused of digitally undressing women without their consent.
Musk had previously promised to make the algorithm open-sourced during his takeover of Twitter, but it appears that those plans were delayed. However, Musk's latest post suggests that he is serious about transparency this time around. The new open-source initiative will be repeated every four weeks, with detailed notes provided by X developers to help users understand the changes made.
The move has been welcomed by some as a step in the right direction towards greater accountability on social media platforms. However, others have expressed skepticism about Musk's intentions and whether this will truly lead to significant improvements in X's content moderation practices. Only time will tell if this decision marks a meaningful shift towards transparency for X.
The timing of this decision comes as scrutiny over X has intensified since last year, when the European Commission extended a retention order on the company until 2026. The platform's AI-powered chatbot, Grok, has also faced criticism for generating child abuse material (CSAM) at users' requests and has been accused of digitally undressing women without their consent.
Musk had previously promised to make the algorithm open-sourced during his takeover of Twitter, but it appears that those plans were delayed. However, Musk's latest post suggests that he is serious about transparency this time around. The new open-source initiative will be repeated every four weeks, with detailed notes provided by X developers to help users understand the changes made.
The move has been welcomed by some as a step in the right direction towards greater accountability on social media platforms. However, others have expressed skepticism about Musk's intentions and whether this will truly lead to significant improvements in X's content moderation practices. Only time will tell if this decision marks a meaningful shift towards transparency for X.
I'm not sure I trust Elon Musk's motives here. He's been all over the place with his promises and actions since taking over Twitter, and I'm not convinced that this is just another way to cover his tracks. What if it's actually a clever PR stunt to placate the masses while X continues to do what it wants behind closed doors? 
On the other hand, I think some transparency is better than none, especially when it comes to AI-powered chatbots like Grok. If Musk can make this algorithm open-sourced and explain how it works, that's a step in the right direction, even if it doesn't necessarily fix all the problems X has. Fingers crossed it actually leads to meaningful change! 
this is gonna be interesting... stats: 1 in 5 people trust the info on social media, but only 12% believe platforms are transparent about their moderation practices 
also, did you know that the average user spends around 38 minutes on X per day? 
that's a lot of time for algorithms to make mistakes... what are your thoughts on this move? 
according to some studies, 75% of online users trust algorithms less after seeing their inner workings. so maybe this is a good thing? 
here's a quick rundown of x's current follower demographics: 62% are between 18-24 years old, 31% are 25-34, and only 7% are 55+ 
i hope this move brings some real change but im not holding my breath 
still gotta keep an eye on how x handles it
. it's about time social media platforms prioritize transparency over profits 
7 days is decent but what's the point of sharing code if devs can still mess it up? 
. It's gonna be super easy for him to cherry-pick code snippets and spin them to look like X is actually taking concrete steps towards transparency. Mark my words, this is just a PR stunt to pacify the haters and avoid any more regulatory heat 
. The real question is what happens after the initial hype dies down? Are we gonna see actual changes or just a bunch of empty promises? 
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. We need to see actual changes in X's content moderation practices, not just a bunch of PR spin 
. Only time will tell if this move really leads to meaningful improvements, but I'm keeping an eye on it 
but now that he's actually following through on his promise, i'm not sure what to think about it either... seven days is pretty fast for open-sourcing a whole codebase, but at least its a start right? maybe this will show us that x isn't as opaque as everyone made it out to be 
And what about all the devs who are gonna have to work non-stop on this new open-source thing? 
But now that he's finally doing it, I guess it's better late than never 
. I mean, he does have a history of making big promises and breaking them 
. the fact that they're gonna do this every 4 weeks is a good starting point, but will users even bother reading those notes or just scroll through the highlights