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Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

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Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#141

Post by 0xDEAFBEAD »

3np wrote: post #140
0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but on the other hand, it's not exactly surprising if they're redacting details related to spam detection, algorithmic manipulation, foreign interference, and other such adversarial phenomena. (I'm not necessarily saying that's what's going on. But I do seem to recall that when reddit open-sourced, they deliberately chose to redact info related to vote manipulation/spam detection/etc.)

Do you also believe it plausible that aside from redacted parts, this module has not been changed in any way on production servers for over 2 years (last commit is spring 2023)?

That's a fair point, it looks like they aren't making much effort to keep this up to date.

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#142

Post by skissane »

morkalork wrote: post #103
pbasista wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reporters should be getting down to the point and asking Elon Musk about the practical usefulness of such a heavily redacted public release.

I can think of like 3 institutions that have reporters who would ask that kind of question (The Register, Ars Technica and 404media) and I don't think Musk is going to be sitting across the table from any of them, ever.

> I can think of like 3 institutions that have reporters who would ask that kind of question (The Register, Ars Technica and 404media) and I don't think Musk is going to be sitting across the table from any of them, ever.

Ars Technica’s space editor, Eric Berger, interviewed Musk only a few months back: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/05/elon-musk-turns-his-fo...

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#143

Post by VoidWhisperer »

bpavuk wrote: post #138
MiguelHudnandez wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would cost a fortune in API calls, so it's not practical for anyone except internally at corporate.

well, Bluesky and Mastodon posts would suffice, but it's still useless because of how redacted the release is

I feel like bsky and mastadon only represent a subset of users, so I'm not sure how well you would be able to create a general rec system similar to twitter's from that that is useful outside of those places

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#144

Post by VoidWhisperer »

thevillagechief wrote: post #119
mac-attack wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the same way that someone speaking on behalf of the White House is held to a standard whenever they speak, the same applies to journalists that are representing a newspaper. Making everyone 'equal' is a political heuristic that IMO presupposes that journalists can't be trusted and are as useful as a random person paying $20/mo.

I'm going to go ahead and say that the last 5 years did in fact show that journalists cannot be trusted. I will agree that random persons paying $20 obliterates what was already an embarrassingly low bar. Really, opening it up just expanded the pool of what was already just influencers/activists. And why did celebrities have the bluecheck? It's probably more useful as a verification mechanism.

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but wasnt that the original purpose of the blue checkmark - a verification that the twitter account was who they are saying they are, be it a person, company, etc?

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#145

Post by DustinBrett »

swaptr wrote: post #66

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but why does Bluesky feel so much faster to load and interact with compared to X? On the surface, both have similar interfaces and equally rich content, yet Bluesky consistently feels snappier and more responsive, even though it’s the newer platform.

Having a fraction the activity probably helps.

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#146

Post by bathtub365 »

nextaccountic wrote: post #114
barbazoo wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only no weights. Not sure what people's expectations are but a lot of the time this isn't even valid code with all the redaction they did [1]. I'm confused as to who this is for, this surely isn't the repo they're working on, is it? [1] https://github.com/twitter/the-algorithm/blob/main/trust_and...

Are you talking about this? wandb_key = ... wandb.login(...) It's rather weird that they would add keys to the source code like this, rather than reading from the environment or some secrets service. Rather than redacting the source, they should refactor to remove the keys from the source

Since it’s redacted we don’t know what was here. They could be redacting the names of the environment variables or other secrets names they use for credentials since a supply chain attack could more easily exfiltrate them if they know the name.

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#147

Post by simianwords »

tonymet wrote: post #79
simianwords wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a big fan of grok fact checks.

it has potential but they need to improve the @grok UI. Twitter is just cluttered with "@grok is this true?" spam and I had to mute it.

you are right, for some reason every grok reply has the advertisement to install the app which is too distracting

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#148

Post by swaptr »

cropcirclbureau wrote: post #133
swaptr wrote: post #66

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but why does Bluesky feel so much faster to load and interact with compared to X? On the surface, both have similar interfaces and equally rich content, yet Bluesky consistently feels snappier and more responsive, even though it’s the newer platform.

Iiirc, Twitter uses some mongrel version of React Native on the web. That's why you get the 3 seconds long loading thingie whenever you open a new tab.

Oh in that case bsky is basically the same stack, they happen to have a react-native-web app with Expo. Maybe its the dozens of analytics that is being processed every minute.

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#149

Post by aaron695 »

Scene_Cast2 wrote: post #7

Just like with their last release, they only released the architecture and not the weights. It may be useful for analyzing the system if you're a competitor (but from my last dive into it, it seemed like a strict subset of fancier, industry-leading rec systems), or perhaps getting into rec / retrieval systems as a newcomer. However, this gives roughly zero insight into how Twitter's feed behaves.

[dead]

Re: Source code for the X recommendation algorithm

#150

Post by thevillagechief »

VoidWhisperer wrote: post #144
thevillagechief wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to go ahead and say that the last 5 years did in fact show that journalists cannot be trusted. I will agree that random persons paying $20 obliterates what was already an embarrassingly low bar. Really, opening it up just expanded the pool of what was already just influencers/activists. And why did celebrities have the bluecheck? It's probably more useful as a verification mechanism.

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but wasnt that the original purpose of the blue checkmark - a verification that the twitter account was who they are saying they are, be it a person, company, etc?

It was a status symbol pretending to be a verification. There was a reason the people were referred to as "blue checks". And it could be taken away if you fell afoul of the prevailing norms at the time.
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