Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, has announced that starting on April 15th, all tweets displayed on the For You feed will be sourced from Twitter Blue users who have verified accounts.
This move is aimed at tackling the issue of AI bots on the platform. Musk emphasized that this is the most viable option for preventing “advanced AI bot swarms” from taking over Twitter, stating that the company would otherwise be fighting a losing battle.
However, Musk also clarified in a follow-up tweet that AI bots can still gain verification as long as they don’t impersonate humans.
Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.
The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.
Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023
Twitter’s For You section presents not only tweets from accounts followed by a user but also content based on previously liked tweets or likes from people in their network. The feature initially launched on iOS in January as an alternative to the Following tab and later expanded to other platforms.
However, not everyone welcomed it, and Twitter updated its web and mobile apps to revert to the previously open timeline tab.
Nevertheless, showing tweets only from verified users may result in an abundance of promotional content for those who choose to view it. This is because, starting April 1st, Twitter is discontinuing legacy checkmarks, which means public figures, companies, government, non-government organizations, and others will lose their verified status unless they subscribe to Twitter Blue.
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