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18h ago

New Book Alleges Musk Fired X Engineer Over Declining Engagement

The account draws on earlier reporting to portray Musk shaping X’s algorithm around his own visibility.

San Francisco police arrive on scene as a worker removes letters from the Twitter sign that is posted on the exterior of Twitter headquarters on July 24, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Workers began removing the letters from the sign outside Twitter headquarters less than 24 hours after CEO Elon Musk officially rebranded Twitter as "X" and has changed its iconic bird logo, the biggest change he has made since taking over the social media platform. San Francisco police halted the sign removal shortly after it began.
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Overview

  • Journalist Jacob Silverman’s Gilded Rage revisits a 2023 episode first reported by Platformer in which Elon Musk allegedly fired a principal engineer after being told his posts were underperforming because interest had waned.
  • Engineers had examined whether Musk’s reach was being artificially limited and, according to the reporting cited, found no evidence the algorithm was biased against him.
  • The book describes Musk’s reaction to being outperformed by Joe Biden during the 2023 Super Bowl, alleging he deleted his tweet and demanded algorithm changes after Biden’s post drew more views.
  • Silverman reports that X engineers reworked the ranking system following a late-night call for help, with changes that purportedly boosted Musk’s posts and made the For You feed mirror accounts he followed.
  • These anecdotes are presented within broader turmoil after Musk’s 2022 takeover, including mass layoffs, weakened moderation, reinstatement of banned accounts, advertiser pullbacks, and a high-profile integrity lead’s departure; Musk and X have not confirmed the claims.