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...