In a bid to “maximize unregretted user seconds,” Elon Musk revealed plans for an algorithm change on his social media platform X that he said would reduce excessive negativity. Critics say the algorithm changes will have troubling results, such as censoring criticism of the FBI.
Self-described “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk has announced that his X platform (formerly Twitter) will implement changes to its algorithm in response to what he perceives as an overabundance of negativity pushed on the site. The billionaire entrepreneur, who acquired Twitter in October 2022 and later renamed it X, is known for his controversial interventions on the platform.
In a post on X, Musk said: “An algorithm tweak will be available soon to promote more informative/entertaining content. We will post changes to @Xeng (X Engineering). He then explained the objective behind this decision by stating: “Our goal is to maximize user seconds not regretted. Too much negativity is pushed, which technically increases user time, but not unregretted user time.
The announcement comes a week after Musk’s X collapse following criticism of his rabid support for H-1B visas. Expressing the type of negativity he now hopes to reduce, Musk told critics to “fuck themselves in the face”:
One X user said Friday: “Let’s optimize H1-B,” a reference to Musk’s belief that things that shouldn’t exist shouldn’t be optimized.
“The reason I’m in America with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk raged in response to user X. “Take a big step back and FUCK YOU in the face.” I will wage war on such a matter as you cannot understand. »
Musk’s comment is a paraphrase of a line from the 2008 comedy film. Tropical Thunder.
It was later revealed that Musk had replaced some laid-off Tesla workers with low-wage workers on H-1B visas.
Journalist Savanah Hernandez pointed out that the problem with this algorithm change is that it is Elon Musk and his team who will determine what is “negative.” She wrote: “This is exactly how censorship started on Twitter 1.0. »
A response to Hernandez states that according to Musk’s Grok AI, his post was negative, meaning it would likely be censored by the new algorithm.
Journalist Elijah Schaffer noted that when users asked Grok about the type of posts that could lead to censorship by the algorithm. The bot responded that posts critical of the FBI could result in the account being demoted to X.
Breitbart News will continue to report on Elon Musk and his X platform.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
Breitbart News
