In good news that may be good for many, US billionaire Elon Musk said, on Tuesday, that the algorithm of the Twitter platform will become open source next week.
“Be prepared to be disappointed at first when our algorithm becomes open source next week, but it will improve quickly,” he added in a tweet via Bluebird, Tuesday.
“more transparency”
The Tesla owner’s words came in response to a user who said he would be “really impressed” if this happened.
Musk, who usually claims to be “absolute freedom of speech,” especially since he surveyed users’ opinions to make important decisions on Twitter, has repeatedly in the past supported the idea of making the platform’s algorithm open source, according to Insider.
This came because he sees this feature as a step towards more transparency in the platform.
Prepare to be disappointed at first when our algorithm is made open source next week, but it will improve rapidly!
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2023
What is “open source”?
It is stated that “open source” usually refers to software or source code that is publicly accessible for anyone to view, modify and redistribute.
And last March, Musk polled his followers about making the algorithm open source.
He wrote on Twitter at the time: “I am concerned that bias in the Twitter algorithm will have a significant impact on public discourse … How do we know what is really going on?”
Last May, Musk tweeted that the algorithm was being manipulated in ways the user was unaware of.
He also said: “I’m not suggesting that the algorithm swindles, rather it tries to guess what you might want to read, and in so doing it gets manipulated by inadvertently amplifying your views without you realizing this is happening.”
Thomas Davidson, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University and an expert on hate speech on social media, has previously argued that making Twitter’s algorithm open source and available to researchers could help counter extremist speech and determine how it spreads.
Until Musk recently concluded that open source was the way to go for a solution that was both reliable and efficient, in his opinion.
