Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in October 2022, and rebranded it as “X,” has now set his sights on removing the controversial “Tweepcred” system after previously announcing about removing the “Block” feature from the site.
What Happened: Tweepcred, a tool designed to evaluate the credibility of Twitter users, assigns scores based on factors like follower count, engagement rate, and posting frequency. While intended to combat bots and spam, it was criticized for inadvertently stifling the growth of smaller and newer accounts.
While some users speculated that the move might be a part of the tech billionaire’s broader strategy to encourage more organic engagement and level the playing field for users, particularly smaller accounts, which often struggle to maintain high credibility scores, others noted that they weren’t even aware of such a system.
Last week, Musk, who has been accused of unblocking himself from people’s accounts since buying the microblogging site, announced that he’s getting rid of the “Block” feature aside from direct messages. He will instead focus on the Mute feature.
Why It’s Important: Previously, Mark Cuban, billionaire investor and owner of Dallas Mavericks, raised a crucial concern regarding the extent of Musk’s control over X’s algorithms.
The Shark Tank star said Musk’s influence over algorithms and content curation makes X “Elon’s Square” rather than a space for open, collective discourse.
The tech billionaire’s posts shouldn’t get any special treatment or promotion from the recommendation algorithm to ensure his influence is based on organic user engagement, he stated.
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