--- title: "Elon Musk Is Absolutely Furious at the Twitter Algorithm" description: "Elon Musk is griping that Twitter's algorithm isn't fair, and that there should be more transparency around how it works." date: "2022-03-25" modified: "2022-04-04" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-angry-twitter" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "algorithms" - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Elon Musk Is Absolutely Furious at the Twitter Algorithm ![Elon Musk is griping that Twitter's algorithm isn't fair, and that there should be more transparency around how it works.]() *GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MARCH 22: (Alternate crop of #1239417601) Tesla CEO Elon Musk contemplates during the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant on March 22, 2022 near Gruenheide, Germany. The new plant, officially called the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, is producing the Model Y as well as electric car batteries. (Photo by Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images) \Image: Getty\* ## Send Tweet SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has had many loves — think electric vehicles, large rockets, [Claire "Grimes" Boucher](), and [internet memes](). But he may have no greater and more longstanding infatuation than the microblogging service Twitter, which he joined in 2009 and has consistently used as a megaphone to grow his personal brand, issue proclamations and predictions about the future, and occasionally nurse feuds with a [staggeringly]() [broad]() [selection]() of [other]() [famous]() [people]() and [institutions](). Now it appears that Musk has turned his sights on a new foe: Twitter itself. In a series of messages on the platform — yes, he's using Twitter to complain about Twitter — the mercurial CEO griped over the past day that the site's algorithm isn't fair, and that there should be more transparency around how it works. "The algorithm needs to be open source," he [wrote](). ## Poll Position That wasn't all. Soon afterward, Musk [expressed amusement]() at a meme making fun of coders' use of the word "algorithm." Then, perhaps in a fit of self-doubt, he reframed his initial anti-Twitter tweet [as a poll](), asking his followers to weigh in on whether the site's algorithm should be open source (at press time, 82.7 percent had agreed.) Perhaps most striking is his single-minded focus on Twitter. It's difficult to argue with the critique that social media companies' opaque algorithms have a worrisome amount of control over public discourse in this extremely online era, but compared to a heavily algorithm-mediated service like Facebook, Twitter's algorithm is relatively unobtrusive. And, while Twitter makes the setting [fairly difficult to activate](), it does still offer a purely reverse chronological feed. Perhaps most intriguing is why Musk is irate at Twitter's algorithm at this precise moment. If it's burying anybody's posts, Musk isn't a very prominent victim — not only is he one of the site's most popular users, but his poll complaining about its algorithm received more than a million votes. **More on Elon Musk:** [*Elon Musk Busts Enthusiastic Dance Moves at Tesla Gigafactory Opening*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()