The CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, has said that soon verified accounts will appear in Twitter’s ‘For You’ feed starting from 15th April. In his defense, Musk said that the company is making the move to combat AI bots and that it’s the only realistic way to prevent advanced AI bot swarms from taking over.
Twitter’s ‘For You’ Feed to the Rescue
To date, Twitter shows the tweets from accounts that the user follows on their respective ‘For You’ feed but the algorithm also features tweets from the accounts based on the tweets they previously liked or other people in their network have liked. Not only this, but Musk also clarified that soon only verified users will be able to vote in polls.
Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.
The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.
Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023
Since the takeover, Musk has been trying hard to find ways to generate new revenue streams, with paid verification being its flagship policy. The verified accounts tweet being displayed on the ‘For You’ feed is the latest effort to drive users to buy the premium subscription as the company has reportedly lost a huge amount of value which was revealed by Musk in a memo.
Clarification Tweet
The new policy was ultimately ‘canceled’ by Twitter users as the home feed was always meant to feature tweets from the accounts followed by the users. This has forced Musk, to tweet a clarification saying; “Forgot to mention that accounts you follow directly will also be in For You, since you have explicitly asked for them.” In response to Musk’s initial announcement a user wrote; “So if there is a good (relevant) tweet that is going viral, it still won’t be considered in for you page if the person isn’t verified? Isn’t that a missed opportunity for people to see good, relevant, organic content?”
Forgot to mention that accounts you follow directly will also be in For You, since you have explicitly asked for them
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2023
Also read: Elon Musk Confirms Twitter’s Worth Less Than Half of What He Paid
