An interview with Nikita Bier, who wants to lure journalists back to X with a rebuilt recommendation algorithm with no keyword suppression or manual downranking
Product chief Nikita Bier on journalists who left: “We have to earn their trust.” Also: Fidji Simo on OpenAI's Code Red, and a new episode of ACCESS. X: @ashleymayer . Bluesky: @fahadhumayun.com , @tamela , @niedermeyer.online , @ketanjoshi.co , @karlbode.com , @sky.skymarchini.net , @davidevanlovett , @caseynewton , @chronotope.aramzs.xyz , @martingeorge , @shelleybwoke , @gillinger.se , @markmcgeoghegan , @tupped , and @alexeheath.com X: Ashley Mayer / @ashleymayer : I hope Nikita is successful in bringing back journalists and article sharing more broadly. This website used to be an incredible source of news. Bravely putting the URL to @alexeheath's reporting *in the tweet* since supposedly that is no longer punished https://sources.news/... Bluesky: Fahad Humayun / @fahadhumayun.com : Maybe Nikita Bier can read our study on why journalists left Twitter. — You can't have trolls and conspiracy theorists mimicking journalists. — The big picture is that tech moguls can't stand a marketplace of ideas which they can't control. — www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/ 10.... [embedded post] Tamela Ehlinger / @tamela : NOBODY other than racist freaks wants to go back to that vile platform [embedded post] E.W. Niedermeyer / @niedermeyer.online : FAKE NEWS [embedded post] Ketan Joshi / @ketanjoshi.co : Lure them back? Did they ever leave? [embedded post] Karl Bode / @karlbode.com : but your website is owned by, and swarming with, white supremacists and fascist propagandists — how about you eat shit [embedded post] Sky Marchini / @sky.skymarchini.net : > no keyword suppression or manual downranking — HAH HA HA HA HA [embedded post] David Lovett / @davidevanlovett : “we promise we aren't using the algorithm to fuck you *this* way” is sadly going to be catnip for the vast majority of elite journos that are tech and also functionally illiterate [embedded post] Casey Newton / @caseynewton : We have reached the “begging us to come back” stage of X's decline [embedded post] Aram Zucker-Scharff / @chronotope.aramzs.xyz : Lol his pitch is 'look we'll open your articles in a webview'? — Fuck all the way off. [embedded post] Martin George / @martingeorge : Until Elon goes on another k bender. @shelleybwoke : You cannot poast the adjective “cis” on the Nazi app. [embedded post] Christian Gillinger / @gillinger.se : Couldn't read the whole article, but it sounds like a very shallow understanding of why media left X. Mark McGeoghegan / @markmcgeoghegan : “There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again” [embedded post] Simon McGarr / @tupped : Not a problem for most of Ireland's journalists, who never left. [embedded post] Alex Heath / @alexeheath.com : I talked to X's head of product about why the platform wants journalists to come back and what he's doing to try and make it happen sources.news/p/x-wants-it...
Context & Ripple Effects
X’s effort is being led by Nikita Bier, who became head of product in a 2025 product leadership hire. The stated goal is not merely more activity, but renewed participation by journalists and more sharing of reporting.
That pitch follows X’s earlier removal of article headlines from link previews, a change that made outbound reporting less legible in the feed. More recently, X tested a link view that keeps post engagement controls visible, suggesting product changes around how links circulate are part of the same effort.
First-order effects
- X is making an explicit product-and-policy promise: recommendations will not rely on keyword suppression or manual downranking. Journalists considering whether to post or share links now have a concrete claim against which to judge the platform.
- Bier’s product team must make the rebuilt recommendation system and link-sharing experience credible enough to overcome the skepticism expressed by journalists in the coverage.
Second-order effects
- Competing real-time networks, including Bluesky, have a clearer opportunity to position their feeds and moderation practices as alternatives if X cannot translate its algorithmic assurances into visible distribution outcomes.
- Publishers and reporters may adjust where they place links and breaking-news updates based on whether X’s new link presentation produces usable referral and engagement behavior without obscuring the original post.
Third-order effects
- If platforms increasingly compete for journalists through ranking-policy commitments, feed governance becomes a more explicit part of the publisher-platform relationship rather than an opaque background system.
- The broader test is whether social distribution can again support article sharing without platforms treating links chiefly as inputs for on-platform engagement; the corpus does not establish that X has achieved this yet.
The trend: Social platforms are competing to rebuild news and link-sharing ecosystems by pairing distribution-product changes with more explicit claims about recommendation governance.