Elon Musk released part of the code for Twitter at the end of March, as promised when he bought the social network. Since then, observers have wondered about the scope of this event.
On March 31, Twitter published on the Github platform, widely used by developers, several parts of its source code, that is, the instructions in computer language that govern the operation of its social network.
In particular, it unveiled its recommendation algorithm, which selects and organizes tweets in the “For you” tab.
Some parts of the code had already been leaked a few days earlier on Github, but Twitter had requested their removal.
Few companies lift the secrecy of their computer code, which represents a competitive advantage. However, some organizations choose to develop “open source” (free access) to allow third-party developers to improve their program.
Twitter had done it in 2021 with its photo cropping algorithm, accused of racist bias.
Elon Musk says in particular that he was inspired by Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency whose code is freely available for everyone to verify the absence of flaws.
Inspired by the continuous stream of scrolling videos on TikTok, the “For You” tab features a list of tweets from half the accounts the user is subscribed to, half from the entire network.
To do this, Twitter accurately analyzes user behavior, estimates their “reputation” and groups those with similar interests.
Each user is located within 145,000 “communities”, social circles updated every three weeks that can group anywhere from a few thousand to hundreds of millions of accounts, Twitter explains in a blog post.
The “Pop” community has 332 million users, including Katy Perry, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake. The “Bollywood” community unites 80 million people.
“Pretending transparency”
“The more users in a community like a tweet, the more that tweet will be associated with that community” and will be promoted by the algorithm, Twitter explains. On the contrary, the publication on very different topics will be devalued.
This operation, reminiscent of the “filter bubbles” long denounced by social media experts, maximizes user participation but tends to reduce the diversity of content and opinions shared within a community.
The code also reveals that “likes” influence the popularity of a tweet much more than “retweets” or even replies.
Finally, subscribers to Twitter Blue’s new paid offer are favored by the algorithm, as Elon Musk had indicated.
Twitter has chosen not to disclose the training data for its algorithm or the parameters of the artificial intelligence models associated with it at this stage.
Their rationale: not to “compromise the security and privacy of users” or “undermine (their) efforts to combat the sexual exploitation and manipulation of children.”
It’s not enough to understand
But, for the journalist Nicolas Kayser-Bril, a specialist in the study of algorithms, “it is not possible to understand a program just by reading the code. You have to know how to run it on a computer.”
The role of certain published code snippets also raises questions, particularly those that refer to election periods or that reveal whether the author of a tweet is an elected Democrat, a Republican, or Elon Musk himself.
According to the Digital Services Regulation that comes into force this year in the European Union, “very large platforms” with more than 45 million active users, such as Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok, will have to allow the authorities to study their algorithms.
Questioned recently by a Senate inquiry commission, the Cnil’s technology director, Bertrand Pailhès, said he had not yet adopted a “position” on this obligation, which currently applies in France only to public algorithms.
“Keep in mind that the release may also reveal security issues. It is something that has to be done carefully,” she said.
Source: BFM TV
