Twitter 2.0 Takes a Step Towards Transparency by Sharing Source Code with Global Community
Twitter 2.0 is making a new move towards transparency by opening much of its source code to the global community. As the “town square of the internet,” Twitter recognizes its responsibility to make its platform transparent and is taking the first step towards a new era of transparency.
The company has released two new repositories on GitHub, the main repository, and the machine learning repository, containing the source code for many parts of Twitter, including the recommendations algorithm. This algorithm controls the tweets that users see on their For You timeline.
Even Elon Musk shared this information on Twitter with the message”Most of the recommendation algorithm will be made open source today. The rest will follow. Acid test is that independent third parties should be able to determine, with reasonable accuracy, what will probably be shown to users. No doubt, many embarrassing issues will be discovered, but we will fix them fast!”
Most of the recommendation algorithm will be made open source today. The rest will follow.
Acid test is that independent third parties should be able to determine, with reasonable accuracy, what will probably be shown to users.
No doubt, many embarrassing issues will be… https://t.co/41U4oexIev
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2023
The released code excludes any code that would compromise user safety and privacy or the ability to protect the platform from bad actors, including undermining efforts to combat child sexual exploitation and manipulation. Moreover, Twitter has decided not to release training data or model weights associated with the algorithm at this point.
However, Twitter is open to receiving feedback from the global community on how to improve its recommendations algorithm. The company invites the community to submit GitHub issues and pull requests for suggestions on improving the algorithm. Twitter is also working on tools to manage these suggestions and sync changes to its internal repository. Any security concerns or issues should be routed to the company’s official bug bounty program through HackerOne.
The move to release Twitter’s source code is an effort to foster transparency and build trust with its users, customers, and the general public. Twitter’s aim is to benefit from the collective intelligence and expertise of the global community in identifying issues and suggesting improvements, ultimately leading to a better Twitter.
This release is the first step towards Twitter’s commitment to being more transparent, and the company plans to continue sharing more code that does not present significant risks to Twitter or people on its platform.
Overall, Twitter’s move towards transparency is a welcome development, as it enables users to understand how the platform operates and makes it easier to build trust with its users.
