Elon Musk fires back at false claims that he boosted his engagement levels

In a Friday report from the Washington Post, among others, the publication claimed that Musk’s major changes to the social media platform were designed to target his own experience and not that of the millions of regular users on the website.

Elon Musk fires back at false claims that he boosted his engagement levels
Ian Miles Cheong/MidJourney
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Chief Twit Elon Musk has fired back at reports that he had somehow “reinvented” Twitter’s algorithms for his own personal gain.

In a Friday report in the Washington Post, among others, the publication claimed that Musk’s major changes to the social media platform were designed to target his own experience and not that of the millions of regular users on the website.

“What many underestimated was the extent to which Musk would make wholesale changes with the potential to disrupt the experience across the site for his own benefit,” wrote authors Faiz Siddiqui and Jeremy Merrill, who cited a report on Platformer, which stated that Musk had been worried about his declining engagement on the website.

“But several former Twitter employees, including some with direct knowledge of the issues he prioritized, said Musk’s changes were often geared toward improving his own user experience,” wrote the Post, citing Platformer.

"Data has emerged showing how he has benefited from the changes, and examples have piled up month after month of specific actions geared toward improving his personal experience on the site. The former employees spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution."

Musk fired back shortly after the article’s publication to ask, "Your article is false and obviously so. Do you really do no research at all? I mean, like reading a few tweets, for example."

Citing a tweet he made prior to the article’s publication, Musk wrote:

Several major media sources incorrectly reported that my Tweets were boosted above normal levels earlier this week.

"A review of my Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months, especially as a ratio of followers, shows this to be false,” he added. "We did have a bug that briefly caused replies to have the same prominence as primary Tweets, but that has now been fixed."

In response to a tweet linking to the Platformer report, Musk fired back to say that the source of “the bogus Platformer article is a disgruntled employee who had been on paid time off for months, had already accepted a job at Google and felt the need to poison the well on the way out. Twitter will be taking legal action against him."

It’s worth noting that Musk’s tweaks to the algorithm stem from concerns by numerous power users on the website that their engagement had completely tanked in the months following Musk’s takeover of the site.

According to Musk, the team of engineers at Twitter discovered that engagement for many of the site’s most prolific users — including Musk himself — had dropped due to how the platform was calculating blocks against the reach of users.

Blocks, which carry weight, were found to have a disproportionate impact on user engagement and reach due to the existence of shared blocklists. In response, Twitter would lessen their impact to restore the original reach of affected users. Musk also stated that the platform would move to make it so that only blocks from verified accounts would count against engagement in the future.

The Platformer article, citing the disgruntled former Twitter employee, sought to downplay the problems with the Twitter algorithm by claiming that Musk’s popularity had simply been on the wane due to his public statements on politics, implying that he’d simply imagined the issue into existence.

Posting on Twitter, Musk noted Friday afternoon that "if many people who you follow or like also follow me, it is highly probable that the algorithm will recommend my tweets. It’s not super sophisticated."

“In coming months, we will offer the ability to adjust the algorithm to closer match what is most compelling to you.”

“The algorithm needs & will get major upgrades,” added Musk. “We will still publish it later this month, but please expect to see many bugs & silly logi! What matters is showing users compelling content. We’re doing better than before (I think). User-minutes are up >10% from last year.”

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