Free speech on X may now be under question as the platform's owner, Elon Musk, announced on Friday that the social media site would undergo a "tweak" to its algorithm to combat "negativity."
"Algorithm tweak coming soon to promote more informational/entertaining content. We will publish the changes to @XEng [X Engineering]," Musk wrote. "Our goal is to maximize unregretted user-seconds. Too much negativity is being pushed that technically grows user time, but not unregretted user time."
Musk later added, "We're also working on easy ways for you to adjust the content feed dynamically, so you can have what you want at any given moment."
Musk's shift — from calling "negative feedback on this platform" being "vastly preferable to some sniffy censorship bureau" in July 2023 to now presiding over a platform where a number of users have had their accounts suspended or demonetized for the ostensible offense of criticizing his position on H-1B visas — has many concerned that X is regressing into the Twitter of old.
Hours before Musk's announcement, podcaster and MMA fighter Jake Sheilds posted on X: "I was demonetized months and not in it for the money but taking our check marks is a clear sign that they will start banning us soon I'm now I'm unable go live, edit Tweets and many other features twitter should give accounts with different views different view the same rules"
As X prepares the rollout of its tweaked algorithm, some users are left questioning who decides what negative content is.
"Elon Musk says the algorithm will punish 'negativitity.' What's negativity?" X user ThatUmbrellaGuy posted. "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?"
The gold check-marked news organization Drop Site posted an open letter to Musk: "We appreciate your focus on maximizing ‘unregretted user-seconds,’ but it seems the current approach may unintentionally penalize credible sources that challenge dominant narratives.
"The visibility of our verified gold-check account, which covers critical and often divisive topics, has significantly dropped (by four to five times), since the first month of reporting on X.
"What safeguards are in place to prevent the silencing of minority and dissenting views?" it continued.
"Complete transparency regarding what gets suppressed and why would be really helpful in ensuring that dissenting and minority voices on any issue are not marginalized. We hope you’ll agree that this is crucial if X is to be the digital town square."
Nick Koutsobinas ✉
Nick Koutsobinas, a Newsmax writer, has years of news reporting experience. A graduate from Missouri State University’s philosophy program, he focuses on exposing corruption and censorship.
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