Tag: him’
Elon Musk attempts to debunk reporters but Twitter’s own data proves him wrong
Elon Musk’s worst enemy may very well be his own website.
On Friday, Twitter owner Elon Musk began pushing back against reports that the company tweaked the platform’s algorithm in order to specifically boost Musk’s own tweets this past week.
“Several major media sources incorrectly reported that my Tweets were boosted above normal levels earlier this week,” tweeted Musk. “A review of my Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months, especially as a ratio of followers, shows this to be false.”
Musk further explained that there was “a bug that briefly caused replies to have the same prominence as primary Tweets, but that has now been fixed.” At the time, Musk did acknowledge an issue with the “algorithm.”
However, Musk’s claims are refuted by Twitter’s own data, which does show a big boost in impressions on Musk’s tweets that line up with the reported timeline for the algorithm changes to Twitter.
Queensland University of Technology researcher Timothy Graham analyzed the data, which was pulled directly from Twitter’s official API, and found that impressions on Musk’s tweets were up 737 percent on Feb. 13, the day after the Super Bowl, shortly after the reported algorithm changes were made. In the days that followed, well after Musk’s tweet acknowledged an algorithm issue, the daily impressions on Musk’s tweets nearly tripled.
Musk supported his version of the story by tweeting about what he called a “review” of his “Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months.” As evidence of this review, he provided a screenshot of the 311 million impressions one of his tweets — the one about putting the cocaine back in Coca-Cola — received in April of last year, and noted that none of his subsequent tweets have “come close” to that number yet. But it should be noted that individual tweets from users with less than even 1,000 followers routinely go viral and rack up millions of views.
As Platformer first reported, Twitter engineers were tasked with making changes to the website shortly after the Super Bowl on Sunday after one of Musk’s tweets failed to perform as well as a similar post from President Joe Biden. The next afternoon, a “fix” to Twitter was pushed out that “artificially boosted Musk’s tweets by a factor of 1,000.”
The change to Twitter’s algorithm was so obvious that users started complaining that their feeds were being filled up with Musk’s tweets.
Regardless, Musk is claiming that the Platformer report was “bogus” and that the outlet’s source is a “disgruntled employee who had been on paid time off for months, had already accepted a job at Google and felt the need to poison the well on the way out.” Musk then claimed that Twitter would take legal action against the individual.
Platformer’s Casey Newton replied that Musk’s claims were inaccurate and that the outlet stood by its story.
This isn’t the first time Twitter’s own data has debunked claims from Musk or his defenders this week.
On Thursday, Musk fans falsely claimed that a Mashable story regarding Tesla unsubscribing from Twitter Blue was false. A Community Note was attached to Mashable’s tweet linking to the story insisting that because Tesla is business verified with the gold checkmark, it could not be a Twitter Blue subscriber to begin with.
Musk signaled his support for this usage of Twitter’s Community Notes in a tweet.
However, Twitter’s own data as pulled from its official API showed that Tesla did indeed unsubscribe from Twitter Blue in the past week. Furthermore, the data provided examples of business verified accounts with gold check marks which are also subscribed to Twitter Blue, disproving the claim that Tesla’s Twitter Blue subscription wasn’t possible in the first place.
The Community Note was later removed from the Mashable tweet linking to the Twitter Blue story.
Son fell 600ft to his death on Snowdonia as friends saw him ‘disappear into clouds below’
500-Year-Old Leonardo Da Vinci Sketches Show Him Grappling With Gravity
A team of engineers studying the 500-year-old, backward writings of Leonardo da Vinci have found evidence that the Italian polymath was working out gravity a century before its foundations were established by Galileo Galilei.
You star Penn Badgley says relationship with ex Blake Lively ‘saved’ him
Shocking moment knife-wielding thugs chase dad down just before stabbing him to death
THIS is the shocking moment knife-wielding thugs hunt down a dad before stabbing him to death.
CCTV shows balaclava-clad Benjamin Bibby, 21, and Andrew Wilcock, 29, sprinting down dimly lit alleys pursuing victim Lee Dawson.
CCTV shows Balaclava-clad Benjamin Bibby, 21, and Andrew Wilcock attacking Lee Dawson[/caption]
Lee Dawson, 42, died of fatal stab wounds – one of which plunged 16cm into his chest[/caption]
Catching up with the 42-year-old dad they delivered fatal stab wounds – one of which plunged 16cm into his chest.
Lee had initially tried to face off against his two killers and another attacker, Robert Cross, 34, after they lay in wait for him just before 3am on June 17 last year.
But after the three men raced after Lee, he tripped and fell, allowing Bibby and Wilcock to carry out the horrific slaying.
Both received minimum life sentences of 24 years following a three-week trial at Preston Crown Court.
Following the sentencing, Lee’s mum, Christine Dawson, said the jail time wouldn’t replace the “heartache” of his loss.
She said: “No sentence imposed will bring back a much-loved son, brother, father and friend or reflect the heartache and pain these people have inflicted on our family.
“A mother should not have to witness her son die. Lee had so much to live for and these people have taken that away.”
Lee was mercilessly killed after returning to his home town of Preston, Lancs., from Sunderland for a funeral.
He was with family the day before and then attended a house party on Driscoll Street at around 2am, where he punched Bibby in the face following an argument.
Bibby and Wilcock then left the home before returning to confront Lee with knives while wearing face coverings.
But after cops arrived at the address, they waited for Lee in a different location, coming across him and his friend on East Street at 2.47am.
During the confrontation, Lee removed his top and wrapped it around his arm.
Both Bibby and Wilcock swung knives in Lee’s direction.
It was then that Robert Cross came on the scene having run along East Street, with Kerry-Ann Metcalf walking behind him.
Lee was chased along said street by Bibby and Cross, followed by Wilcock – running 85 metres to Jutland Street before tripping.
The killers pounced as he hit the floor and stabbed him several times – the fatal wound plunged 16cm into his chest.
Lee managed to get up momentarily but was found on the pavement with serious injuries and pronounced dead at 4.05am.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Haworth-Oates, of Lancashire Police’s Force Major Investigation Team, said after the sentence the killers had shown “senseless violence”.
He added: “Bibby and Wilcock could have walked away from their argument with Mr Dawson at any time.
“But instead they went to collect knives, put on face coverings and lay in wait from him to come past before attacking him.
“All of those involved left Mr Dawson on the pavement to die – something that his family have had to watch play out during the trial as they try to come to terms with his loss.”
Lee was chased along by Bibby and Cross, followed by Wilcock – running 85 metres to Jutland Street before tripping[/caption]
Andrew Wilcock can be seen in this CCTV footage shortly before slaying Lee Dawson[/caption]
Lee Dawson left a house party after returning from a funeral[/caption]
Disgraced rugby ace Joe Westerman’s wife felt ‘physically sick’ watching him perform alley sex act
Gargoyles’ David Xanatos is so evil and cool, a 1,500-year-old trope was named after him
Yes, yes, all according to plan…