OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Twitter’s legal team is furious with Elon Musk after he revealed the results of the company’s bot survey, the billionaire claims.
“Twitter legal just called to complain that I violated their NDA by revealing the bot check sample size is 100! This actually happened,” he said in a follow-up to tweets he had sent days earlier.
Twitter legal just called to complain that I violated their NDA by revealing the bot check sample size is 100!
This actually happened.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2022
The original tweets indicated that the deal was on hold pending the analyzing the results of the survey and as he and his team conducted their own examination of the bot and spam accounts.
“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” the billionaire said.
Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://t.co/Y2t0QMuuyn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
“To find out, my team will do a random sample of 100 followers of @twitter. I invite others to repeat the same process and see what they discover …,” he said.
To find out, my team will do a random sample of 100 followers of @twitter.
I invite others to repeat the same process and see what they discover …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2022
A Twitter user asked if he could “elaborate a bit on the ‘process’? So that we as Twitter can help you in finding out the real percentage of scam/spam/bot accounts.”
“Any sensible random sampling process is fine. If many people independently get similar results for % of fake/spam/duplicate accounts, that will be telling. I picked 100 as the sample size number, because that is what Twitter uses to calculate <5% fake/spam/duplicate,” Musk said.
Any sensible random sampling process is fine. If many people independently get similar results for % of fake/spam/duplicate accounts, that will be telling.
I picked 100 as the sample size number, because that is what Twitter uses to calculate <5% fake/spam/duplicate.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2022
“After your response to my tweet last night I now have 50% bot followers. Literally doubled overnight. Woke up to this,” a Twitter user responded, showing a video of purported bot followers.
“With usernames like that, the bots aren’t even trying hard!” Musk said.
With usernames like that, the bots aren’t even trying hard!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 15, 2022
Musk went on in other tweets to explain the Twitter algorithm.
“Very important to fix your Twitter feed: 1. Tap home button. 2. Tap stars on upper right of screen. 3. Select ‘Latest tweets’. You are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don’t realize. Easy to switch back & forth to see the difference,” he said.
Very important to fix your Twitter feed:
1. Tap home button.
2. Tap stars on upper right of screen.
3. Select “Latest tweets”.You are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don’t realize.
Easy to switch back & forth to see the difference.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2022
“I’m not suggesting malice in the algorithm, but rather that it’s trying to guess what you might want to read and, in doing so, inadvertently manipulate/amplify your viewpoints without you realizing this is happening,” the Tesla CEO said.
I’m not suggesting malice in the algorithm, but rather that it’s trying to guess what you might want to read and, in doing so, inadvertently manipulate/amplify your viewpoints without you realizing this is happening
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 15, 2022
“Not to mention potential bugs in the code. Open source is the way to go to solve both trust and efficacy,” he said.
Not to mention potential bugs in the code. Open source is the way to go to solve both trust and efficacy.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 15, 2022
It came as an internal memo from Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, which was obtained by Bloomberg, revealed that the social media giant will stop hiring new employees and implement cost-cutting measures.
Additionally, two of Twitter’s top executives are leaving the company ahead of Musk’s takeover of the corporation.
The memo also said Twitter will slash travel, consulting, and marketing expenses, according to Bloomberg.
“At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the decision was made to invest aggressively to deliver big growth in audience and revenue, and as a company, we did not hit intermediate milestones that enable confidence in these goals,” Agrawal wrote in the memo.
“In order to responsibly manage the organization as we sharpen our roadmaps and our work, we need to continue to be intentional about our teams, hiring and costs,” he said.
And on Saturday former President Donald Trump has weighed in on what he believes is the future of billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase.
He made the comments during a rally Saturday in Austin where he said his Truth Social app “blows Twitter away” and “everybody loves it — especially the engagement.”
Trump says Musk has a lot of problems before he promotes his own social media platform “Troth Social” pic.twitter.com/tFcuSWjCd5
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 14, 2022
“I don’t believe he’s going to buy Twitter because you have so many fake accounts, the bots, all of the different things,” the former president said of Musk. “I think it’s going to be very interesting.”
