Elon Musk Requested Twitter Algorithm Change To Boost His Tweets, Was Unhappy with Views: Report

The Twitter CEO was said to be unhappy with the number of views of his Super Bowl tweet.

By Vlad Savov, Bloomberg | Updated: 15 February 2023 17:24 IST

Elon Musk Requested Twitter Algorithm Change To Boost His Tweets, Was Unhappy with Views: Report

Photo Credit: Reuters

Twitter reportedly excluded Elon Musk’s tweets from filters

Highlights

Twitter users then complained about seeing an abundance of Musk's tweets
Musk has nearly 129 million followers, whereas Biden has 37 million
Musk acquired Twitter in a $44 billion deal in October 2022

Elon Musk had Twitter engineers working late on Sunday to alter his social network's algorithm and prioritize his tweets, resulting in a glut of them in users' feeds on Monday, according to a report by Platformer. The billionaire Twitter owner was said to be unhappy with the number of views of his Super Bowl tweet. As a result of his request, Twitter excluded Musk's tweets from filters designed to improve the quality of users' timelines, Platformer said, and artificially boosted them by a factor of 1,000. Users across Twitter complained about seeing an abundance of the owner's missives on the day following the Super Bowl.

Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh .… “algorithm”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2023

Musk's message of support for the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday got significantly lower engagement than US President Joe Biden expressing a similar sentiment. The company's chief has been increasingly focused on — and frustrated by — his personal engagement numbers, which have been dropping in recent weeks, the report said. Musk has nearly 129 million followers, whereas Biden's account has 37 million.

Before taking the company private in a $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,64,400 crore) deal in October, the Tesla chief executive officer spoke of his desire to make it an even playing field and eliminate bias in the system.

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Twitter didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Musk tweeted liberally about Twitter and its functionality after the publication of the report, but didn't address its content.

Earlier, he tweeted a meme suggesting his tweets were going to be force-fed to Twitter users. He also said the company was making adjustments to the algorithm.

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