On Friday, Twitter unveiled portions of the algorithm that governs content recommendations on its platform, granting users and developers insight into its inner workings and the opportunity to propose changes.
The company announced via a blog post that it has uploaded the relevant code to two repositories on the code-sharing site GitHub. This release includes the source code for various components of Twitter, particularly the recommendations algorithm that influences the tweets displayed on users’ timelines.
This initiative follows a directive from Elon Musk, the platform’s billionaire owner, who advocates for greater code transparency to enhance user trust and drive swift enhancements to the service.
The move also responds to mounting concerns from both users and lawmakers, who have been scrutinizing social media platforms regarding the algorithms that dictate what content is shown to users.
Musk expressed on Twitter that independent analysts should be able to examine the open-sourced code and “determine, with reasonable accuracy, what will probably be shown to users.”
He acknowledged that the process might unveil some “embarrassing issues,” but assured that they would be addressed promptly.
Additionally, Musk indicated that Twitter plans to refresh its recommendation algorithm based on user input every 24 to 48 hours.
On the same day, Musk, along with several Twitter employees, hosted a session on Spaces, the platform’s audio chat feature, inviting users to share their recommendations and inquiries regarding the platform’s code functionality.
During the session, a participant raised concerns about elements of Twitter’s code that appeared to categorize users as either Republican or Democrat. A Twitter employee clarified that this outdated feature did not significantly impact the platform’s recommendation system, and efforts are underway to remove it.
The GitHub repositories do not contain the code that governs Twitter’s advertisement recommendations, the company clarified.
Furthermore, Twitter has ensured that code posing risks to user safety or privacy, as well as information that could jeopardize efforts to combat child sexual abuse material, has been excluded from the public release.
This announcement follows an incident in which parts of Twitter’s source code were leaked on GitHub, prompting the platform to request the removal of that code last week.
In a legal filing, Twitter sought a court order from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to compel GitHub to provide “all identifying information” related to the account that posted the leaked code.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
