Elon Musk Makes A part of X Algorithm Open Supply, Says It ‘Sucks’

[Sketchiest Guy in the World Voice] Hey child, wanna see the X algorithm? It’s proper over here. 

No actually, Elon Musk seems to be partly making good on his promise a few week in the past to open up the X suggestions algorithm for public perusal and enter, theoretically making the principle feed on his social media platform open supply. He beforehand promised he would do that again in 2022, and form of did by publishing one snapshot of the code shortly afterward, however that repository wasn’t saved sufficiently updated to make the X platform qualify as most individuals’s thought of an open supply product.

This launch, then, is a promising step within the path of X really being an open supply product. The following step can be to replace this code repository in 4 weeks, as Musk promised he would do.

Even then, this launch wouldn’t imply the open sourcing of X might be marked “promise saved.” In his January 10 X submit promising this launch, Musk mentioned he would launch “all code used to find out what natural and promoting posts are really helpful to customers.” From the place I’m sitting, that has nonetheless not even come near taking place.

That’s as a result of on November 26 of final yr, the accounts for Musk and Grok posted that Grok is used to type the posts on everybody’s Following feed by default, though it may be toggled from “in style” to “current” to make it chronological. That algorithm seems to be lacking. The Following and For You feeds on X even have advertisements, which Musk has indicated are served through an algorithm that he mentioned he would make public. So by my depend there ought to be a minimum of two extra releases, presumably extra. 

Gizmodo reached out to X for details about whether or not or not the promoting and Following feed code has already been launched, or if it will likely be launched sooner or later sooner or later. We’ll replace if we hear again. 

However anyway, right here we’re with a contemporary dump of code. The very first thing you must know is that it “sucks,” based on Musk. 

Sure, the algorithm sucks

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 20, 2026

Earlier on the identical day Musk mentioned the algorithm sucked, X head of product Nikita Bier seemed to indicate that he was proud of it, noting that within the six months from July of 2025 to this month, every day engagement time from new customers has gone from lower than 20 minutes to someplace within the mid-30s. Who’s proper? Is it higher than ever, or does it suck?

The issue could also be that Musk simply can’t appear to wash out all of the cussed wokeness residue stuffed into X again when it was known as Twitter. His tweet saying it sucked was a response to former online game government Mark Kern complaining that the algorithm weights posts much less closely if they arrive from accounts which have been blocked loads. Kern says he suspects that this biases the algorithm in opposition to posts from right-wing accounts like his personal. That’s believable I suppose, although it nearly actually biases the algorithm in opposition to accounts that submit a number of harassment and abuse, so make of that what you’ll.

Judging from what’s within the plain textual content readme paperwork within the Github dump, this newest X algorithm is what you in all probability anticipate for those who use X: an replace to the TikTok methodology of hooking customers. My impression of what’s described is that, unsurprisingly, it prioritizes engagement, trying to determine which posts will make the person cease scrolling. It pulls from accounts you observe, but additionally accounts deemed to be much like these you observe. It’s interesting to your id, not your superego. It doesn’t matter what you suppose you’re there to see, it needs to point out you no matter will make you retain gazing it. 

Along with sucking, Elon Musk additionally says it’s “dumb.” Replying to a grievance from blogger Robert Scoble complaining that the algorithm favors posters who hijack information occasions, Musk says the algorithm will enhance each month—seemingly referring to the four-week anticipated cadence for GitHub code dumps. 

We are attempting to to make the algorithm much less dumb.

It would enhance each month.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 20, 2026

And who is aware of, perhaps customers with wonderful concepts will dig not simply into the readme sections, however proper into the code, discover the actual issues, and cross alongside solutions to Musk, and the algorithm will get extra satisfying and worthwhile over time. Alternatively, perhaps the wants of an organization that desires to hook customers with the intention to get them to observe advertisements and generate income for itself, and the needs of human beings who need to really feel nicely knowledgeable and pleased are two completely irreconcilable ideas, and making a suggestion algorithm open supply with the intention to attempt to serve each these kinds of want is completely futile. I assume we’ll see which of those maybes is definitely true.