The owner of the social platform X says a change to its algorithm will effectively address negative posts to improve the user experience.
Wait, you mean there’s too much negativity on X? Its owner, Elon Musk, has suddenly come to that realization, just days before President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. He announced changes to the algorithm designed to stop highlighting negative posts. The move, he says, will “maximize unregretted user-seconds.”
So he wants X users to enjoy their time on the platform.
That hasn’t seemed to have been much of a concern before now. That little fact seems to be raising some concerns about what some are suggesting is the real motivation for the change.
Musk seems to be in Trump’s inner circle. He’s so far into that inner circle, it seems, that some have been jokingly suggesting that it’s Musk, not Trump, who will lead. Memes have popped up referring to “President Musk.” One I saw was an image of Trump standing behind Musk while Musk sits at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
So one might reasonably assume that if there were some ulterior motive for allowing the algorithm to de-emphasize negative posts, it might be to avoid the spread of negative posts about Trump.
One X user called the announcement “interesting timing.” He accused X of essentially rewarded negativity while Biden was president. But now it’s shifting just as Trump takes his second oath of office?
X users ask a reasonable question
If the goal is to make X a more “enjoyable” experience — if not a less “regrettable” experience — there’s one question that needs to be asked. Who will decide exactly what is negative?
Another X user asked that very question: “Criticism of the wrong person, persons, celebs, parties? The news (its oftentimes not cheery)? Advocacy pointing out the ugly happening in our courts? Calling out broken systems? Companies?”
Another user said, “Basically, posting about murders, rapes, Tesla explosions, with be rendered ‘negative.'”
Musk owns a few companies, including Tesla, some of which garner negative opinions. But there’s plenty of negativity to go around on social media these days. It’s almost as if people don’t know how to be positive. I wonder if some even ever have been.
Even on some of the newer, supposedly “nicer” platforms, like Threads and Bluesky, there are plenty of naysayers who are ready to pounce. Oddly enough, it still seems surprising on those platforms. The trolls aren’t as noticeable on X; I think we just expect them to be out in force there.
Musk set the tweet so that only paid users can reply to it.
I don’t wish to reply that badly. Oddly enough, only X Pro members can even see those replies.
I don’t wish to read them that badly, either.
Another points out that if X will depend on artificial intelligence to determine what’s negative, it may block most of Musk’s tweets. I somehow suspect that it’s probably being programmed to let anything and everything he posts gets through no matter what.
The real question is will a crackdown on supposedly negative content on X be an improvement or will it be a case of “too little too late?”
Musk said the changes would be published to the X Engineering account. So far, there’s been no word there.
I think this is called suppressing freedom of speech. X platform was touted as free speech not an enjoyable experience. If you can’t say what is on your mind then it isn’t freedom of speech! Musk is the most negative and trolling account on X.
I don’t think “free speech” and “enjoyable platform” have to be mutually exclusive. There’s always more than one way to say something.
I don’t have a problem, per se, if the negative posts targeted are slurs, bullying and things like. But Musk himself has been very snarky, so I don’t think he’s remotely a good judge of that.
Curtailing posts that point to one side or another — or trying to describe posts that point to one side as the “negative” type — is definitely a problem.