Elon Musk Reveals Twitter's Source Code As Promised, Says 'Initial Release Is Going To Be Embarrassing'

On Friday, Elon Musk-owned Twitter released the source code for its recommendation algorithm. 

In a blog post, Twitter said it uploaded the source code in two repositories on the code-sharing platform GitHub. The social media platform said it would allow users and programmers take a peek into its workings and the ability to suggest modifications to the algorithm.

Speaking about the release during a Twitter Space session, Musk said, "Our initial release of the so-called algorithm is going to be quite embarrassing, and people are going to find a lot of mistakes, but we're going to fix them very quickly." 

"Even if you don't agree with something, you'll know why it's there and that you're not being secretly manipulated. The analog we aspire to is a great example of Linux as an open-source operating system. One can, in theory, discover many exploits for Linux. What happens is the community identifies and fixes those exploits," he added. 

In a tweet on Friday, Musk said that "most of the recommendation algorithm" had been released and that the rest would be released soon.

The billionaire entrepreneur also said Twitter would update its recommendation algorithm based on user suggestions every 24 to 48 hours.

After the source code was made public, users shared what they found exciting. One user, for instance, shared that the codes shows that Twitter is explicitly tracking metrics for users are broken up into four different groups i;e "elon", "power_user," "democrat," and "republican."

When a guest on the Twitter Space session asked about the tracked metrics, one of Twitter's developers explained that the algorithm was simply collecting stats. 

Read Also: Musk Slammed For Saying Twitter Is Seeking 'The Least Wrong Truth' With Community Notes Feature

On Friday, Platformer's Zoë Schiffer also tweeted that Twitter had removed part of the source code that impacts users' reach (including Musk's) before making the algorithm public.

Last week, Musk had announced that he would make the source code public, saying that the recommendation algorithm used at Twitter is overly complicated and that people may discover "many silly things."

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Photo: Steve Jurvetson via flickr