Now we know why the Twitter algorithm seems to recommend some users’ tweets so frequently. Newsletter platforms informs that the company has of a few dozen accounts it “monitors and offers greater visibility” in its recommendation algorithm. The accounts include Elon Musk, as well as a handful of other prominent Twitter users.
The revelation comes as Musk has to make Twitter’s recommendation algorithms open source. He also recently stated that soon only paid Twitter Blue subscribers would see his tweets in the For You algorithmic feed. It’s unclear if that change would also affect the VIP list of users who regularly get a feed boost. Some of the accounts on the list, like that of 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 platforms, the VIP list was “originally created to monitor the engagement received by Twitter power users” as the company has sought to allay suspicions that its “shadow bans” on certain users reduce their visibility on the platform. “Our ‘algorithm’ is too complex and not fully understood internally,” Musk recently
But the list, which reportedly has only 35 accounts other than Musk’s, also says who Musk thinks should benefit from Twitter’s algorithm. platforms It 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. Also includes @catturd2, an account recently by Rolling Stone as the “MAGA Twitter King of Shit Posts”.
It’s also not the first time a report has surfaced about 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 feeds to have dozens of tweets from Musk. platforms later, Twitter employees had changed their algorithm to favor Musk after the CEO became angry that his Super Bowl tweet did not receive as much engagement as Biden’s. Musk reportedly fired an engineer who suggested the lack of engagement was due to waning interest in his tweets.
