“Combatting the takeover of swarms of advanced artificial intelligence robots”. This is what led Elon Musk to stop recommending accounts that had not subscribed to his Twitter Blue subscription. Starting April 15, only Twitter accounts displaying a blue badge will be eligible to appear in the “For You” tab, which uses a recommendation algorithm to mix followed accounts with people a user doesn’t follow.
According to the owner of Twitter, this solution would be “the only realistic way” to protect his platform against automated accounts (bots). However, it’s already undermined by restrictions on free access to Twitter’s API (Application Programming Interface).
respond to a survey
The move comes days after it was announced that the social network’s historic certification badges will be discontinued as of April 1. Starting this Saturday, people who have earned a certification under their notoriety should see their account converted back to lambda if they don’t pay for a Twitter Blue subscription.
However, the non-recommendation of free accounts remains unclear. As the Washington Post reporter points out, Elon Musk is unclear when he talks about recommendations in the “For You” tab. Thus, this new rule could only affect the publications of users who are not followed, leaving tweets from followed accounts visible. And this whether they are subscribed to Twitter Blue or not.
Likewise, Elon Musk assures that paid users of Twitter will be the only ones who will be able to answer a survey on the platform. Again, this is to prevent manipulation by an army of fake accounts, according to the billionaire. Shortly before becoming the head of the social network, Elon Musk had accused bots of undermining his peace plan for Ukraine during a poll.
In the past, the businessman had already mentioned the possibility of reserving surveys only for paid accounts, recalls the American medium The Verge. It was then a matter of answering questions about the general policy that the platform was going to adopt in the Musk era. But as the site points out, it’s been a long time since Elon Musk put his intentions on the mainstream notice.
A few hours later, the owner qualified his comments. in a new post. He specified that it was possible to buy a blue badge for automated accounts, “as long as they follow the conditions of use and do not impersonate humans.”
Source: BFM TV
