![>](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="694" width="1024" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/> "Elon Musk says Twitter will only show verified accounts on its algorithmic timeline 3")
Photo credit: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch
This is a new chapter in Elon Musk and his weird Twitter choices. This time, the social network’s CEO has stated that starting April 15, Twitter will only show verified accounts on the algorithmic “For You” timeline.
In a tweet, Musk justified the move by saying it’s the “only realistic way to go about adopting advanced AI bot swarms.” While the Tesla CEO suggested that the move to exclude unverified accounts from referrals was to fight bots, he did mention that “verified” bots that don’t impersonate humans are eligible to appear on the “For You” -Timeline to be shown. So you essentially have to be a paid user, brand, or government official to be recommended by the Twitter algorithm.
However, it is okay to have verified bot accounts if they follow the terms of service and are not impersonating a human
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2023
Twitter has been trying to promote the “For You” timeline for some time, despite negative opinions from many users. The move to make it a verified-only algorithmic feed won’t be a popular decision either. In particular, analysts point out that Twitter currently only has 385,000 paying users. Also on April 1st, the company is removing old verification ticks from previously notable accounts. So the algorithmic feed is populated with paid accounts in addition to accounts from brands and officials, resulting in a very skewed timeline.
Musk also said that going forward, only verified accounts will be able to take surveys. However, it’s unclear whether these are intended to be polls created by Twitter (or him) or all polls on the platform. As always, the announcement is confusing.
Last year, Twitter briefly introduced a policy to ban handles and links to other social networks like Facebook and Instagram. The move backfired, and after heavy criticism, the company reversed the rule. Back then Musk called that every major policy decision would go through a poll (spoiler: it didn’t). Shortly after, he launched a poll asking people if he should step down as CEO. In the end, 57.5% voted in favour.
After these events several People suggested that bots made up a majority of those votes. At that time, Musk took note of a user suggestion for a limit Policy voting for paying subscribers only. With the latest statement, he could finally implement this change.
This development comes days after GitHub removed Twitter’s leaked source code. Additionally, Musk promised to open source the social network’s recommendation algorithm on March 31. We’ll have to wait and see if the code includes any hints about restricting it to verified users only.