Twitter increases transparency by sharing parts of its source code

Twitter has made some parts of its computer code publicly available, giving users and programmers insight into its algorithms and enabling them to suggest modifications. The code has been uploaded to two repositories on Github, including the recommendations algorithm which controls the tweets that users see on their timeline. The move was made at the request of Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, who believes that code transparency will lead to greater trust among users and improvements to the product. It also addresses concerns from users and lawmakers, who have been scrutinising social media platforms over how algorithms select content.

Musk tweeted that third parties should be able to analyse the open-sourced code and “determine, with reasonable accuracy, what will probably be shown to users”, adding that Twitter will update its recommendation algorithm based on user suggestions every 24 to 48 hours. On Spaces, Twitter’s audio chat feature, Musk and some employees invited recommendations and questions about the platform’s code.

(image credit: Hindustan Time)

Github repositories do not include the code that powers Twitter’s ad recommendations, and Twitter said it excluded code that would compromise user safety or privacy, as well as details that would undermine efforts to prevent child sexual abuse material on the platform.

Recently, parts of Twitter’s source code were leaked on Github, prompting the platform to ask the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to order Github to produce “all identifying information” associated with the Github account that had posted the leaked code, according to a legal filing. During the Spaces session, one user questioned why Twitter’s code classified users as Republicans or Democrats, to which a Twitter employee responded that it was an old feature that was not important to the recommendation system and that the company was looking to remove it.