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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Schadenfreude Open Thread: Another (Not-) ‘Win’ for the Blue-Check God-Emperor

Schadenfreude Open Thread: Another (Not-) ‘Win’ for the Blue-Check God-Emperor

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Yes, you are not the only one bored by Musk-updates, but this is too good not to share:

… Biden’s tweet, in which he said he would be supporting his wife in rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles, generated nearly 29 million impressions. Musk, who also tweeted his support for the Eagles, generated a little more than 9.1 million impressions before deleting the tweet in apparent frustration.

In the wake of those losses — the Eagles to the Kansas City Chiefs, and Musk to the president of the United States — Twitter’s CEO flew his private jet back to the Bay Area on Sunday night to demand answers from his team.

Within a day, the consequences of that meeting would reverberate around the world, as Twitter users opened the app to find that Musk’s posts overwhelmed their ranked timeline. This was no accident, Platformer can confirm: after Musk threatened to fire his remaining engineers, they built a system designed to ensure that Musk — and Musk alone — benefits from previously unheard-of promotion of his tweets to the entire user base…

Late Sunday night, Musk addressed his team in-person. Roughly 80 people were pulled in to work on the project, which had quickly become priority number one at the company. Employees worked through the night investigating various hypotheses about why Musk’s tweets weren’t reaching as many people as he thought they should and testing out possible solutions.

One possibility, engineers said, was that Musk’s reach might have been reduced because he’d been blocked and muted by so many people in recent months. Even before the events of this weekend, Musk’s long stint as Twitter’s main character, both in the run-up to and aftermath of his $44 billion takeover of the company, had led huge numbers of people to filter him out of their feeds…

By Monday afternoon, “the problem” had been “fixed.” Twitter deployed code to automatically “greenlight” all of Musk’s tweets, meaning his tweets will bypass Twitter’s filters designed to show people the best content possible. The algorithm now artificially boosted Musk’s tweets by a factor of 1,000 – a constant score that ensured his tweets rank higher than anyone else’s in the feed. 

Internally, this is called a “power user multiplier,” although it only applies to Elon Musk, we’re told. The code also allows Musk’s account to bypass Twitter heuristics that would otherwise prevent a single account from flooding the core ranked feed, now known as “For You.”…

After Musk’s timeline takeover caused an uproar Monday, he seemed to suggest that the changes would be walked back, at least in part. “Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh .… “algorithm,” he tweeted. 

The artificial boosts applied to his account remain in place, although the factor is now lower than 1,000, we’re told. Musk’s handful of tweets Tuesday reported around 43 million impressions, which are on the high end of his recent average…

The prescient Mark Levine:

… When he first bought shares in Twitter, I imagined a dialogue between Musk (as a big but outside shareholder and a devoted user of Twitter) and then-Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal:

Elon Musk: Make the font bigger when I tweet.

Agrawal: What? 

Musk: I am your biggest shareholder, I want the font on my tweets to be bigger than the font on everyone else’s tweets.

Agrawal: That’s not really how we—

Musk: And I want 290 characters. Again, just for me.

Agrawal: …

Musk: And it should play a little sound when I tweet so everyone knows.

Then he bought the company and fired Agrawal and everyone else who objected to this plan, so here we are I guess.

#BlockElon was trending from Tuesday evening into Wednesday evening…

Best snark I’ve seen, so far:

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  5. 5.

    Raoul Paste

    Pretending he’s more popular than he is on Twitter.  It just smacks of paying people 50 bucks to hold up a sign and clap for you as you go down the escalator.
    I know this crowd will get that reference

  7. 7.

    satby

    @schrodingers_cat: Blocked him, and a number of right wing nazi wanna-bes ago too, and my feed is nearly the same as it ever was. But twitter is getting more glitchy, so we’re all hanging out at the longest deathbed scene ever.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Repeating from a few days ago (emphasis added).

    Twitter is running ads for companies including Nokia, The Wall Street Journal, and Mailchimp alongside tweets from Holocaust deniers, according to a report by nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America.

    Media Matters reviewed five Twitter accounts belonging to neo-Nazis, antisemites, and Holocaust deniers and found that ads for prominent companies were being slotted next to tweets from the accounts. The reach of the five Twitter accounts, which include writers, a “pseudo-academic organization,” and white nationalist YouTubers, ranges from a couple thousand followers to tens of thousand.

    All five of the accounts are subscribed to Twitter Blue, the subscription service that’s become one of Elon Musk’s main priorities since taking over the company. Earlier this month, Musk tweeted that Blue subscribers would get a cut of the revenue for ads placed beneath their tweets.
    [snip]
    Companies whose ads were appearing next to reinstated accounts included Apple TV, Amazon, the NFL, and Fiverr, which said it would stop advertising on Twitter, according to The Washington Post. Source

  10. 10.

    frosty

    I swore I wouldn’t read any more about Musk and here I am, commenting on it. I think I’ll log off for awhile and go play the bagpipes harmonica.

    Or actually, clean up the kitchen after Ms F was kind enough to cook dinner.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Never have intentionally gone to Facebook or to Twitter*, and before them to MySpace or Xanga or any such entity. And plan on continuing that spotless record with Mastodon, Spoutible or any such sites in the future.

    *In fact my web browser is configured to quash most appearances of stuff from those.

  12. 12.

    Hoodie

    This is funny, of course, but here we are, still talking about this shitbird.  This has echoes of Trump, constant funny, point-and-laugh stories about his idiocy, but obsessive fascination that gave him a sort of power.  Get off Twitter, it’s addictive like fentanyl, except it produces no high and causes a slow lingering death.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    It’s too bad that Musk has taken a service which people enjoyed and found useful and is totally fucking it up. I am bored with his antic, but feel sorry for those who still try to use Twitter.

    Other notable examples of a boss or CEO ruining a good thing?

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    It only cost Murdoch $780 million to pneumatically punch digital nails into the coffin of MySpace by acquiring it.
    ;)

  22. 22.

    flurdman

    I only go to Twitter when there is some breaking news story and I am looking for details  Elong has made that damn near impossible now

  23. 23.

    E.

    When people tell you who they are, listen to them. How can anyone feel this douchebag’s opinion is worth anything? I mean he is objectively a fool.

  24. 24.

    Daoud bin Daoud

    Our lives are being dominated by wealthy white man-babies with massive egos and boundary issues.

    I want to get off this planet.

  25. 25.

    Geminid

    Maybe I’m just lucky, but I have not encountered Musk tweets the last few days even though I’ve checked out Twitter a fair amount. I mainly follow Laura Rozen, Cheryl Rofer, Michael Paulauski, Ragnarok Lobster and Mangy Jay (Magdi Jacobs).

    I did check out a reply on a Laura Rozen thread that led me to a nasty, straight up anti-semitic account. I’m don’t think he would have been allowed a few months ago, but he is now and he is blatant.

  26. 26.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Narcissistic Zillionaire Manbabies don’t believe in safe words or safe places. Violating boundaries is how these parasites got rich in the first place.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    I snorted when I read the first tweet.  I am going to have to read the tweets one at a time, with a suitable amount of time elapsing in between,

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    @Parfigliano: It’s kind of funny that Elon Musk wpuld be triggered by Joe Biden getting more views than him. Biden is only the President of the United States, but Musk is, well, Musk!

  30. 30.

    japa21

    Totally not about the narcissistic man-baby, but the money put into the IRS is having an impact. I read about how people seeking assistance are getting answers much more quickly this year. But, what totally surprised me is that I filed my taxes online on 2/2 and my refund was deposited in my bank account today. That is unbelievably fast.

  31. 31.

    tokyokie

    Violating boundaries is how these parasites got rich in the first place.

    That’s really unfair. Trump and Musk got rich in the first place through inheritance.

  35. 35.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Narcissistic Zillionaire Manbabies don’t believe in safe words or safe places. Violating boundaries is how these parasites got rich in the first place.

    There is a lot of wisdom in this.  Elon wouldn’t be whining about wokeness if he wasn’t somebody who gets off on forcing other people to endure his acting out.

  36. 36.

    Mike in NC

    Musk just needs to purchase some basket-case Third World country like North Korea and name himself dictator-for-life. That might make him temporarily happy.

  37. 37.

    Bill Arnold

    A serious own-goal by Musk.
    Now anyone famous (or anyone, really) will be wondering if they are being boosted or unboosted due to a whim of Mr Musk or one of his trusted underlings. Once the infrastructure is in place for such boosting/unboosting, it will be used and it will be impossible without absolute transparency to plausibly deny that it is being used. High-profile politicians in particular will rightly assume that Musk is personally executing editorial control to attempt political influence. Employees granted such powers may be (depending on controls and reviews) targets for bribery and may decide to leak.
    Shadowbanning is bad enough.
    I’ve seen shadowbanning recently (last couple of weeks); it can show up as an account disappearing from hashtag results.
    I do not use Twitter as intended, mostly keeping a bunch of browser tabs open, not even looking at the feed, and following only occasionally.

  38. 38.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Chetan Murthy: I have a big problem with his behavior toward Ukraine, so I do not enjoy those stories. I’d prefer he just melt down into whiny useless goo and go away for good.

  41. 41.

    Soprano2

    I blocked Musk over a month ago. I used to look at Twitter several times a day. Now I look once if that. Seems like many people I used to read there don’t post much at all anymore.

  42. 42.

    Ruckus

    @patrick II:

    The Constitution lists only three qualifications for the Presidency — the President must be at least 35 years of age, be a natural born citizen, and must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

    Edong doesn’t pass on at least #2, not sure about #3

  43. 43.

    Anne Laurie

    @patrick II: If Elon thinks he is much more popular than Joe, Elon should run for president.

    Minor blessing — he can’t.  He was born in Pretoria, as was his father, and his mother was born in Canada.

    Of course he could signal-boost / support a campaign to change that clause in the Constitution, but IMO the whole ‘having to be President’ thing really doesn’t match Elon’s vibe.  He had a front-row seat watching how much getting into the WH has cost TFG,  in both cash & reputation, and he can already artificially boost his reach on Twitter, so…

  44. 44.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Rob DenBleyker tp Elon Musk (via Anne Laurie @ Top):

    please warn us before posting a dick pic

    Remember that scene in the first Avengers film, where, right before turning into the Hulk,  Bruce Banner/Mark Ruffalo says, “That’s my secret. I’m always angry.”

    Well, in a similar vein: Every Musk pic is a dick pic.

  46. 46.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @Anne Laurie:

    He had a front-row seat watching how much getting into the WH has cost TFG,  in both cash & reputation, and he can already artificially boost his reach on Twitter, so… . decided Twitter would be a better vehicle for that.

    FIFY

  47. 47.

    Ella in New Mexico

    What’s cool is that if he algorithms himself into everybody’s Twitter feeds he won’t be able to target individually the millions of denigrating and foul-mouthed Tweet Assaults directed at him and kick us rando’s  off the platform

    <Devil Emogee>

  48. 48.

    patrick II

    @Ruckus:

    As if mere rules and laws could stop the world’s greatest genius.  It’s like asking Trump to abide by the results of an election.

  49. 49.

    RaflW

    “I think the funniest part of the story is that he left the Super Bowl on his private jet to go back to the office and yell at people.”

    He was sitting with Rupert Murdoch. It was probably excruciatingly dull. I mean, how do two very rich, egocentric aholes figure out how to get the other to pay attention to them?!

  51. 51.

    RaflW

    @Daoud bin Daoud: I just want a tax code that keeps this from happening (from Biden’s speech. I don’t really blame Joe. I blame 40 years of systemic failure to really defeat Reaganism):

    You know, there’s a thousand billionaires in America — it’s up from about 600 at the beginning of my term

    A 67% increase in billionaires in two g.d. years!
    More to Joe’s credit, he goes on to say:

    No billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter. (Applause.) No, I mean it.”

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    @patrick II:

    Yes except that as he’s not in any way eligible to even run so no matter how many people may write him in, and I’d say maybe 5 at most, not one would count. And his name will actually never be on that section of the ballot. And no, I’m not saying he’s the worlds greatest asshole, but if the current greatest asshole dies, edong is for sure in the running.

  53. 53.

    dc

    I open my twitter feed far less often than I did before Musk took over. However, I blocked him as soon as the buy was finalized, I never use the algorithm for my feed, and now when I do enter, I block any company with an ad that I come across.

  54. 54.

    Ken

    Twitter’s CEO flew his private jet back to the Bay Area on Sunday night to demand answers from his team.

    “You’re boring and no one likes you.”

    Employees worked through the night investigating various hypotheses about why Musk’s tweets weren’t reaching as many people as he thought they should

    “Sorry, answer hasn’t changed.”

  55. 55.

    Ken

    @Brachiator: Other notable examples of a boss or CEO ruining a good thing?

    Carly Fiorina at Lucent, via the dubious* technique of lending customers money to buy equipment, then booking both the sold equipment and the loan as assets.

    * But apparently not actually illegal.

  56. 56.

    Steeplejack

    @Brachiator:

    [I] feel sorry for those who still try to use Twitter.

    Twitter still works pretty much the same for me, but that’s because I don’t have a Twitter account; I navigate there with my browser and bounce around starting from a group of nyms that I “follow” (i.e., I know their nyms and go directly to their feeds). So I don’t get any “For You” bullshit or promoted tweets. And no ads, thanks to my browser’s ad blocker.

    The experience is a little more threadbare, however, because some people that I followed have left Twitter. (I miss Popehat most. I know he’s on Mastodon, but I haven’t made that part of my daily routine yet.) I still find Twitter to be a useful resource for news and analysis on politics, also animal posts and funny ephemera.

    My (slight) exposure to Elon Musk is 99% people mocking him. I don’t get his tweets “pushed” to me because I don’t have an account to push to.

    ETA: Since I don’t have an account, I can’t post comments on Twitter, but that’s probably a plus.

  57. 57.

    Ken

    @RaflW: I mean, how do two very rich, egocentric aholes figure out how to get the other to pay attention to them?!

    Pity neither of them thought of the example set by Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction.  “I’m not gonna be ignored, Elon….”

  58. 58.

    sdhays

    Speaking of assholes humiliating themselves, apparently Hochul’s “power move” pick to be the NY Appellate Court Chief Justice has officially gone down in flames and she’ll now need to nominate someone else.

    New York deserves better, and fortunately the process worked this time, as ugly as it was.

  60. 60.

    different-church-lady

    Employees worked through the night investigating various hypotheses about why Musk’s tweets weren’t reaching as many people as he thought they should

    “There aren’t that many people on the whole planet, you idiot!”

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    All In with Chris Hayes @allinwithchris1h

    BREAKING: CNN reports Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows has been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating Jan. 6.

  63. 63.

    Skepticat

    Believing there was a reason “Twit” was in the name, I’ve never been in Twitter, and I never shall be. There’s a fair amount of info online I’d like to see that I miss because I refuse to click on anything that takes me there. I really would like to see it evaporate. I tend to blame social media for a lot of our current problems, but here I am.

  65. 65.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Ken: Funny, I was going to nominate her for ruining HP, which thankfully has returned to being a “good thing” for my community over the past decade – but not the same as it was before Carly, they say…

  67. 67.

    Tony G

    @Tony G: Actually, the right-wing often does something like that.  I remember, back in the day, a bunch of goobers buying Dixie Chicks CDs and then burning them.  The Chicks must have made some significant money on that protest.

  68. 68.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I’d like to see Henry Louis Gates do a ‘Finding Your Roots’ segment on Elon. I have a feeling the family lineage is full of douchebags.

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The Late Show  @colbertlateshow 2h

    Elon, we are happy to unblock you and read your tweets. Just pay us 8 bucks a month.

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