Some Twitter Users Say Elon Musk Reportedly Juicing The App To Show His Tweets First Is His 'Biggest Loser Move Yet'

Earlier this week, many on Twitter noticed that their entire "For You" tab was filled with Elon Musk's tweets and replies. Some of these people noted they had trained their algorithm by saying they weren't interested in Musk's tweets, while others said they had him muted.

Turns out, the new, inescapable Musk-forward Twitter is reportedly a result of Elon Musk's cousin rallying Twitter's engineers at 2:30 in the morning to make it so his tweets have an unprecedented level of algorithmic privilege.

According to a report from Platformer, James Musk, Elon's cousin, sent an emergency Slack message at 2:36 in the morning after the Super Bowl to "[debug] an issue with engagement across the platform." This "high priority" issue, as described by James, was apparently that Musk's now-deleted "Go Eagles" Super Bowl tweet earned 20 million fewer impressions than President Joe Biden's.

The report states that the relatively poor performance of Musk's tweet so incensed him that he threatened to fire Twitter's remaining engineers, so "they built a system designed to ensure that Musk – and Musk alone – benefits from previously unheard-of promotion of his tweets to the entire user base."

Musk has been known to be extremely touchy about how many people are viewing and liking his tweets. Last week, he reportedly fired an engineer who told him his engagement numbers were down because he was less popular than he was at his peak.

In the wake of his tweets' unprecedented promotion, Musk posted a Forced to Drink Milk meme to the bafflement and exhaustion of the site's users.

As word of their new Musk-filled timeline spread, many Twitter users suspected the entrepreneur had rigged the system to ensure his tweets spread widely on the platform. Once Platformer's report confirmed their suspicions, many on the site appeared to coalesce around one interpretation of the events — perceiving it as "extreme loser behavior."

Some theorized that Musk's relatively poor engagement numbers could be a problem of his own making, though exact reasons are unknown.

Musk's frequent and, in some cases, disliked tweets may have led more of the site's users to block him. Twitter's algorithm understandably lessens the reach of users who are widely blocked to try and ensure a positive experience with the platform.

Twitter's new Elon-priority system is already widely disliked by many users of the site. Some of these have also complained about getting Musk's tweets even if they click not interested on his posts, and we can independently confirm that Elon's tweets will show up in a user's searches even if they have him blocked.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk is claiming that Twitter will have a new CEO by the end of the year, which would make good on a promise he made months ago. However, considering Musk's history of not delivering on projected timelines, "Twitter getting a new CEO by 2024" doesn't seem like a safe bet in the eyes of many critics.