If you have also been wondering why you are seeing posts on X (formerly Twitter) that you don’t like, or from someone you don’t even follow, you are not the only one who feels that way. We are all in your team. This confusion about how the algorithm for X really works has probably reached Elon Musk. In a recent post on X, Musk revealed how X’s algorithm really works, and he says “it is not smart enough”.
“The X algorithm assumes that if you interact with content, you want to see more of that content,” says Musk in the post.
According to Musk, the secret sauce behind what pops up on your feed isn’t anything else but YOU. That’s right, your likes, shares, and the posts you linger on are what shape the content you see. But we already knew that, didn’t we? Musk explains that X’s algorithm is essentially a mirror, reflecting back the topics and accounts you interact with the most. So, if you’re spending way too much time watching cat videos, don’t be surprised when your feed turns into a feline fest. Mine’s a cat timeline, and I am not complaining. However, what about some extremist content that I keep seeing on my timeline? Neither have I posted any such content, liked it, or even shared it.
“One of the strongest signals is if you forward X posts to friends, it assumes you like that content a lot, because it takes effort to forward,” Musk adds in the post.
Musk claims that if you ever make an effort to share a post with someone, X assumes that you really find it important because you want through all of the headache to actually copy a link and share it with someone. So, it starts to show similar content to you even more. This, says Musk, is regardless of if you were outraged by the post. Because X is currently not “smart enough” to understand the complexity of why a person is sharing it.
“Unfortunately, if the actual reason you forwarded the content to friends was because you were outraged by it, we are currently not smart enough to realise that,” the post further reads.
Musk’s tweet sheds light on X’s ongoing mission to keep you scrolling, ensuring that the content you care about (or at least what the algorithm thinks you care about) keeps popping up on your screen. Whether you find it brilliant or not, one thing’s for sure—Musk knows how to keep people talking. And in true Musk fashion, he’s leaving it up to the users to decide how they want to navigate their own algorithmic rabbit holes on X.