X Open Sources Its Ranking and Filtering Algorithms (techcrunch.com)
- Reference: 0184993864
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/08/16/0223258/x-open-sources-its-ranking-and-filtering-algorithms
- Source link: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/13/x-open-sources-its-ranking-algorithm-letting-users-see-if-theyve-been-shadowbanned/
> X is significantly expanding its open source codebase, which includes the app's "For You" algorithm and its core ranking engine, and adding a feature that will let users see if their account or posts have been impacted by any of its ranking systems, the social network said on Thursday. The company is making the source code for the "For You" timeline, the default feed you see when you open the app, available [2]on GitHub under the Apache v2 license. It's also expanding its previous efforts to [3]open source parts of its codebase to add more detail, including the model configuration, filter, and core ranking system details. That means it includes the parameters used to weight different signals — key to understanding which posts are actually displayed. This also makes the codebase roughly 10 to 15 times larger than it was before.
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> "You'll get the core ranking code that pulls posts and ranks them for any given user and assembles the feed," X's VP of Product Keith Coleman told TechCrunch in an interview ahead of the announcement. "You can see the systems that filter out potentially problematic, rule-violating content...And some of those systems, like the ranker and the score, you can even run yourself outside the company."
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> "This is the kind of thing that I think people will be fairly shocked that we are releasing," he added.
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> In addition to [4]the repository , X is providing tools that will let users see for themselves if and how X's ranking systems have impacted their account or posts. A new transparency tool is rolling out to an "Under the Hood" page in the app's settings, which will let users who have posted 10 or more times over the past month download their aggregate stats as a JSON file. The file will show if any labels have been applied to their account or posts over the past calendar month.
X's VP of Product told TechCrunch that X engineers will consider pull requests. "That would be amazing to have people submitting code that improves the algorithm...I mean, how cool would it be for the X algorithm to be not just visible to the public, but also, like, by the public?"
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/13/x-open-sources-its-ranking-algorithm-letting-users-see-if-theyve-been-shadowbanned/
[2] https://github.com/xai-org/x-algorithm
[3] https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/20/x-open-sources-its-algorithm-while-facing-a-transparency-fine-and-grok-controversies/
[4] https://github.com/xai-org/x-algorithm
Algorithm (Score:2)
Soooo...not AI?
Like (Score:2)
Show me a VP, who, like, totally like talks about, I mean, like awesome algos and such, and I, like, will show you a VP like who doesn't, you know. There. That's what I mean.
Cry for help? (Score:2)
What is the reason for this? We can't fix it in house, please help. Or we need workers, but don't want to pay them. Or we want good publicity, lets put something in open source; people love open source. Also whatever the reason, if nobody outside can use it, why would anyone suddenly go and improve it? I doubt they understand how open source works. For sure not like that. It is not like Pavlov’s dogs - see open source, start salivating.
Bamned by AI for no reason (Score:2)
Meanwhile, X is auto-banning thousands of accountss then telling users a mistake was made, but not re-enabling their accounts.
FIX YOUR SYSTEMS, MUSK.
X11 (Score:1)
I read the headline and thought it was something about screen information and video filtering and thought, why? Since X11 has always been open source.
But I see that it's about twitter and that's something I've never used and have never made any effort to understand.
I guess I'm an old coot...
What's the point if you can't actually change it? (Score:2)
The one thing that defines utility of a social media platform is the userbase. Literally nothing else matters if you don't have the users. That means that forking it is, unlike most open source software, a complete non-starter. You can't just decide you don't like the algo and that you'll modify it and use a different one; if Twitter doesn't expose the actual users and their content to whatever selection you wish to make from it, showing the alleged code to the selection algo is worthless.
It's some form
Re: (Score:2)
They said they would consider pull requests.
And if they didn't, I think a greater level of transparency is worthwhile in its own right.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know I thought it was pretty funny when we found out that 90% of right-wing influencers are either Pakistani or Indian and they're just grifting stupid right wing Americans.
So yeah it would be funny to actually see the algorithm with all its warts and all.
But that said the algorithm without the data isn't a complete picture. Especially because we know that the owner of Twitter routinely has the data altered artificially in order to fit with whatever silly little agenda he has this week.