Developers working for Twitter reportedly added a public repository on the company’s GitHub platform, called ‘the algorithm,’ and then removed it before the source code was locked, according to a tweet by Disclose.tv. Twitter locked changes to its source code to limit its employees from making any unauthorised changes to the microblogging platform, as per media sources.
While the public repository seems to have been removed, Disclose.tv further explained that some developers from Twitter are sending a message to Elon Musk by adding an empty software repository. Musk earlier revealed that he wanted to make the Twitter algorithm open source.
Reacting to this, Clint Ehrlich, a foreign-policy analyst from the US, tweeted that Twitter employees are openly rebelling against its new owner. He said the whole exercise was to troll Musk as they posted a public repository termed ‘the algorithm’ with zero code.
The public repository posted on GitHub has opened the floodgates for major social media discussions and speculations. Seeing this as a cryptic message, some Reddit users suggest that there could be no algorithm at all, whereas others suggest that Twitter uses not one but multiple algorithms spread throughout the codebase.
Musk also played with the idea of making the Twitter algorithm open source during his appearance in a TED talk. An open-source would allow Twitter users to see the code the microblogging platform uses to determine which particular tweets it pushes on one’s news feed.
This recent development follows the groundbreaking news that Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter has been accepted after the business magnate made a $44 billion bid earlier this month. The deal is expected to be closed by the end of 2022.
While Elon Musk has advocated for free speech and making the Twitter algorithm open source, the company’s future under Musk remains uncertain for now.
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