Ex-Google Product Manager Reveals the Ugly Truth About Elon Musk's Twitter

This doesn't bode well for Musk's status as a "free speech" crusader.

A successful product manager for tech firms like Google and Epic Games named Aakash Gupta on March 31 posted a deep dive into Twitter's recommendation source code. The site's coding was made public by Elon Musk himself after portions of it were leaked online. 

The algorithm has been actively squashing posts that mention the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, according to Gupta's analysis. Posts containing the subject are technically treated like abuse or hate-based content, meaning they're downranked in the same way.

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Meanwhile, transgender activists picked up on another uncomfortable feature behind the Twitter curtain. Normally, sharing a tweet via direct message should summon a preview of the tweet. But for certain terms, no link preview is shown; instead, it displays as just a plain link.

Journalist and trans activist Jane Francesca and the UK-based Trans Safety Network both conducted tests to confirm that the words "trans," “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual,” and more LGBTQ+ terms didn't preview properly.

For several marginalized groups on Twitter, search, share, and preview issues can indicate they've been "shadowbanned" -- an unofficial ban that restricts an account's visibility.

What’s more alarming is that tweets containing “dog-whistle” terms commonly used in transphobic rhetoric still appear as proper previews. 

Musk has stated that all the functions of Twitter's algorithm are still being explored by his team. He also said that “people [analyzing the code] will discover many silly things, but [the Twitter team will] patch issues as soon as they’re found.” The Tweet doesn't give clear instructions on how to submit concerns.

TheStreet contacted Twitter's PR email for comment, but somehow we knew exactly what the response would be. Suffice it to say we did not hear back.