After Twitter made some of its algorithms open-source lately, Elon Musk appeared to offer a $1 million reward if the source of “botnets” purportedly targeting reputation scores could be identified.
Twitter disclosed coding details that revealed how it recommended tweets to followers in the For You feed.
A botnet refers to a group of computers that have been infected with malware and are being controlled by a single actor, according to cybersecurity company Cloudflare.
When botnets take over several accounts, they can limit the reach of many accounts through mass blocking, unfollowing, and reporting them.
Quote-tweeting the thread, a Twitter user said that this is how botnets — a network of hijacked computers infected with bot malware and remotely controlled by a hacker — are “crushing accounts.”
The user also asked Musk to count only mutes, blocks, and reports from Twitter Blue subscribers.’
Responding to the tweet, Musk announced the $1 million bounty — but only when the threat actors are “convicted.”
Read more: Elon Musk says he will only resign as Twitter CEO if this happens
Why it’s important?
Musk is leaning further into plans to increase the amplification of tweets from verified accounts, in a bid to boost subscriptions to Twitter Blue and revenues. He plans to allow only the tweets of verified accounts and those users follow on the For You feed.
“Legacy verified accounts,” those verified by Twitter before Musk’s takeover for free largely based on noteworthiness, will begin to lose their verification marks this weekend, according to Twitter.
However, the Twitter Blue launch was met with an increasing number of verified-but-fake accounts which impersonated leading brands and personalities, creating chaos on the platform.
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