Elon Musk, who will potentially own Twitter in the near future, criticized the platform’s algorithm, saying that it is “manipulative” and shapes thinking without people even realizing it.

“Very important to fix your Twitter feed: 1. Tap home button. 2. Tap stars on upper right of screen. 3. Select “Latest tweets”,” Musk tweeted.

“You are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don’t realize. Easy to switch back & forth to see the difference,” he added.

I’m not suggesting malice in the algorithm, but rather that it’s trying to guess what you might want to read and, in doing so, inadvertently manipulate/amplify your viewpoints without you realizing this is happening

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 15, 2022

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey pushed back against Musk’s claim that the algorithm is manipulative.

“It was designed simply to save you time when you are away from app for a while,” Dorsey tweeted in response. “Pull to refresh goes back to reverse chron as well.”

Dorsey wrote in another tweet: “It wasn’t designed to manipulate. It was designed to catch you up and work off what you engage with. That can def have unintended consequences tho. Which is why one should be able to choose if they use an algo or not, and which one. Simple solution to all this.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)