X Social Network Wants to Make Its Algorithm More Transparent Again: New Details on "Shadowbans"

X (formerly Twitter) has released new details about how its platform's algorithmic code determines the reach of posts. The company described the move as the next major step toward greater transparency, made by open-sourcing the code that shapes how posts appear in the "For You" feed.

The update expands the code repository on GitHub, providing more information about the ranking system and the content labels that influence visibility. According to Kit Coleman, X's VP of Product, users can now feed the app's source code into any large language model alongside their own data to get a deeper understanding of how their individual posts are performing. X is also testing a new tool that lets users download a record of which labels or tags were attached to their posts over the past month.

This could prove especially useful for participants in X's content monetization program — even though manually analyzing the data takes some effort, frequent posters will now be able to independently check whether their content is being throttled in any way. Through this move, X hopes to ease concerns about "shadowbanning" — the practice of covertly limiting a user's content visibility without notifying them.

Still, X's track record on algorithmic transparency isn't particularly reassuring. In 2023, a few months after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the company published part of the feed's algorithm on GitHub and promised full transparency. But the information released at the time was incomplete, large portions were withheld, and the code was never updated afterward — leaving many users disappointed.

Even so, Musk has repeatedly pointed to that move as the main proof of X's openness and honesty in how it ranks content. Just last month, he once again pledged to make X's entire codebase fully open source in order to win back users' trust.