Posted on 01/27/2023 5:04:00 AM PST by Red Badger
Dave Rubin was invited to Twitter headquarters to get the inside scoop on why many users are still experiencing engagement issues and reported “shadowbans.”
The journalist shed some very interesting insights into the ongoing problems in a Twitter thread, which will be shared in a more easily read format below.
Spent last two days at Twitter in SF talking to engineers, product managers and yes, @elonmusk. Learned a ton about what’s going on. Before I share, want to note that after couple hour meeting I asked Elon what I could share and he said, “anything that’s true.”
“A Fractal Rube Goldberg Machine.”
That’s what @elonmusk called Twitter. As they fix the code more problems arise. A delicate balance he likened to a Jenga tower. One wrong move the whole thing collapses. They’re working nonstop, and both times I met him were after midnight.
I met with several engineers who were doing a deep dive on why my account and so many others seem to be absolutely crushed after that two or three week return to normalcy when Elon first took over. They still have more questions than answers, but they did learn a bunch of stuff. Accounts aren’t just hit with labels that are obvious to insiders. They now found more “secret” labels which are causing shadowbans. My account was hit with all three; “Recent abuse strike,” “Recent misinformation strike”, “Recent suspension strike.”
It’s unclear so far what these strikes actually do, but for sure they suppress views and recommendations, they are trying to figure out to what extent. I also had many innocuous tweets labeled NSFW or NSFA (not safe for ads) which affect visibility in the timeline. Also, there’s an entire KeyWord database so that machine learning makes sure not to promote violence, porn etc., but it’s a mess of overreaching words. Literally the word “gay” was on the KeyWord list which would make you not advertiser friendly and harm the tweet in the algo.
Backing up for a sec, they found the “recent suspension strike” on my account most interesting because it was fro July 2022, when I was suspended for calling out @jordanbpeterson’s unjust suspension. So though suspension was reversed the action on the account remained.
Elon was bringing people in and out constantly and seems to be aware of pretty much every issue. He thinks maybe the entire code has to be torn down and start from scratch. At the end last night he said that the whole situation is “a flaming dumpster rolling down the street.”
So I assure you they are aware of the problems and Elon and engineers are there all night trying to untie this crazy knot. Some changes they’ve made, like the “For You” tab, have confused people and hurt engagement for accounts who have gotten the NSFA label without knowing. They also don’t know for sure why things got so much better once Elon made the acquisition and why it seems far worse now. Some is probably related to excitement around Elon himself, which also coincided with World Cup, but that doesn’t explain why it feels so off right now. Will share more in bit but have to catch a flight.
On a personal note Elon is funny as hell, laughs a ton and it’s just really obvious he cares about Twitter because he cares about free speech and the bigger problems facing the world. He doesn’t need this headache, he chose it.
Also huge shout out to @DavidSacks who is helping Elon clean up this mess because he believes in the fight for free speech as much as Elon does. And massive thanks to the engineers who iopened up their computers, showed me literally everything I asked for, and were total pros. Oh, one either thing for now…
Elon really lit up when we talked about the shifting political landscape and how anyone non-woke is now “far right.”
That notion is deeply connected to how screwy thing got at Twitter and he’s working to fix it despite the huge challenges ahead.
And frankly they gotta get that company out of SF…
What’s also really crazy now having seen under the hood is that Jack Dorsey repeatedly said they don’t shadowban. The entire machine behind Twitter is designed to shadowban. It’s almost as if that was the primary goal rather than the product itself.
Perfect illustration of how crazy things are. A friend just sent the to me, watch the RT’s go up and then suddenly go down.
Engineer I’ve been working with contacted me on this specifically and said there is a technical reason this happens related to two data centers not syncing. They’re working on it.
“Accurate thread,” Elon Musk replied.
The Twitter thread at least provides reassurances that the engineers are looking into the ongoing “shadowban” issues and appear to be looking to fix them.
Product platforms can be thousands if not millions of lines of code. I wouldn’t call them “hidden.” They’re likely hidden in plain sight. It’s a matter of running down behaviors to troubleshoot what subcomponent, routine, function, etc. is performing the undesirable operation.
Basically, once they start piling these on, it’s hard to remove the pile because it becomes part of your history. Suppression is built into the system.
The big question is exactly WHY do the so-called “woke” hate freedom of speech so much that they will go out of their way to destroy the lives and freedoms of people they don’t even know? An even bigger question is WHY do we, as a society, stand for this by lettng them get away with it?
I wonder if these programmers could be prosecuted for sabotage?..........................
Sounds to me like they are getting a good handle on it.
Also, wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t more than a few moles for the “woke” still remaining at the company.
sound like built in systemic liberal privilege!
Maliciously inserted subroutines can be anywhere, hiding in the tall grass.
Jack Dorsey repeatedly said they don’t shadowban. The entire machine behind Twitter is designed to shadowban. ... the primary goal rather than the product itself.
Dan Bongino made a similar comment.
I’m still banned.
Never violated the terms of service.
Was wondering if many conservatives still are banned.
We’ll see if that changes now...
It’s because they lose more debates than they win on these platforms. They lost in 2016 because of Facebook, not because of Russian bots, but because they got beat in the exchange of ideas. They lost. Then came the part where they cheat to win and cancel people. We basically broke them.
We may not know how to code but we have known what the cause and effect were. Twitter is only a fraction of the malicious and manipulative behavior by many of the so called "elites" who think they know what is best for "us" while they leverage their shills, the low resolution single pixel thinkers, against all aspects of our lives, ie, the entire cancel culture.
I shadow banned the blue bird by not joining.
“WHY do we, as a society, stand for this by lettng them get away with it?”
Most of us don’t have the power or skills to make a huge difference. Seems that Elon is doing his best to fix it. In the end, we have to rely on certain people stepping in and advocating for us.
Or the programmers built in backdoor access before they were fired.
CC
“The big question is exactly WHY do the so-called “woke” hate freedom of speech so much that”
They are part sociopath and religious zealot. They are Satan incarnate.
If one or two individuals have that level of power, they seriously need to review their code repo governance. No one individual should have the ability to insert code, issue a pull request, and approve the change. There should be processes involved in the entire chain to prevent one bad actor from corrupting the code base.
I wonder if these programmers could be prosecuted for sabotage?
I think once found out whom they are they need a ride to the roof and an air drop return to the sidewalk.
I’ve had a Twitter account for a bunch of years. I’ve never been banned, but I don’t comment much at all. I’m there for gathering information more than anything else. I have noticed a change over the years of some of the groups I follow have dropped off of my list. Conservative sites, of course.
I look forward to Elon continuing to make it a better place for everyone.
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