Did Elon Musk change Twitter’s algorithm to boost his own tweets?

Luke Meredith

It has been reported in the past few days that Twitter CEO Elon Musk called on around 80 of the company’s engineers to make instant changes to the platform’s content algorithm, with the goal of making his tweets more prevalent in users’ news feeds.

Documents obtained by tech news website Platformer suggest Musk was disappointed that his tweets during Super Bowl LVII received three times less engagement than those of Joe Biden, despite having almost 100 million more followers than the President of the United States.

Reportedly, James Musk, Elon’s cousin and a Twitter employee, was to post an urgent message in Twitter’s Slack in the early hours of Monday morning, asking for an urgent solution to the issue. As a result, engineers frantically rushed to make changes to the Twitter algorithm that multiplied the rate of Musk’s tweets in news feeds by around 1,000 times. Not only did this result in over 90% of Musk’s followers being automatically exposes to the tweets, but it also meant users who do not follow the Twitter CEO were also noticing his tweets appear in their ‘For you’ feed.

In response, it seems Musk opted to return to the fool-proof tactic of posting memes whenever he receives bad press, perhaps referencing his decision to ‘force feed’ his tweets to Twitter’s users.

pic.twitter.com/iZUukCVrl5
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2023

Musk has promised to step down as Twitter CEO once the company has found a suitable replacement.

Getting your content to reach your target audience on social media is not always easy. Unfortunately, Elon’s alleged ability to artificially feed us his content is a luxury that few of us have. However, if your content is more engaging, relevant and pertinent to your ideal clients than any of Musk’s tweets, you can only increase your chance of finding success on social media. To learn more, speak to our team of content professionals at Engage Web today.

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Luke Meredith

Content Editor at Engage Web

At home in both the digital sector and the world of communications, Luke thrives on deadlines and has held roles in healthcare, retail and digital marketing, gaining a sound knowledge of a wide range of sectors. He’s a massive swot as well, holding a first-class degree in BA Communication and Media, and now uses his writing skills and keen editorial eye in his role as Content Editor here. Luke helps to oversee our clients’ content requirements, while also looking after a pool of freelance writers across three continents.

Did Elon Musk change Twitter’s algorithm to boost his own tweets?