If you’ve been using Twitter’s For You feed this week, you might’ve noticed the algorithmic feed showed a lot of Elon Musk’s tweets and replies. According to Platformer, which interviewed Twitter employees, engineers tweaked the social network to benefit their CEO. Elon’s cousin and Twitter employee James Musk sent an urgent message on the company’s Slack on Monday morning. He called the situation “high urgency” and asked everyone who can write code to help.
What had happened? President Biden’s Super Bowl tweet about rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles got more engagement than Musk’s. Apparently, the president’s tweet generated almost 29 million impressions, whereas Musk’s generated only 9.1 million before he deleted it.
The fix they came up with, Platformer says, was code that artificially boosted Musk’s tweets by a factor of 1,000. Musk acknowledged the change in his own way, by posting the “forced to drink milk” meme. He also asked people to stay tuned while Twitter adjusted the “algorithm.” According to the report, Musk’s tweets are still artificially boosted, it seems, just not quite as much.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.
The biggest stories you might have missed
Qualcomm’s new phone modem may help overcome 5G’s flaws
Tesla will open up 7,500 charging stations to other EVs by 2024
Every actor on our ruined planet will star in Apple TV+’s ‘Extrapolations’
Apple’s pay later approvals could depend on previous Apple purchases
Verizon expands its 2Gbps Fios home internet to the five boroughs
‘The Mageseeker’ is a League of Legends RPG from the studio behind ‘Moonlighter’
Traeger’s redesigned Ironwood grills pack touchscreen controls and more efficiency
‘Horizon Forbidden West’ is coming to PS Plus Extra and Premium on February 21st
Oppo Find N2 Flip hands-on
Fixing the foldable’s shortcomings.
Oppo has been watching the foldable competition. Last year, it revealed its second generation of foldable phones would compete with the same form factors as Samsung. Now, while the West won’t be getting the bigger Find N2 Fold, in the UK and Europe, we will get the Oppo Find N2 Flip. In many ways, the Find N2 Flip attempts to address some shortcomings of the existing foldables, with a bigger cover screen and a larger battery. Sadly, however, there are no plans to launch the phone in the US.
Our verdict on PlayStation’s ‘pro’ DualSense Edge controller
Customization and a higher price.
The original Xbox Elite controller came out way back in 2015, so it’s a wonder why Sony took so long to release its take on a premium, customizable gamepad. But now the PlayStation 5 is more widely available (kind of), the $200 DualSense Edge is here. It costs a bit more than its Xbox rival but offers a few nifty features you don’t get on Microsoft’s controller. However, it’s not perfect: Its short battery life is definitely a downer.
Apple’s MLS Season Pass will stream games in 1080p
The company and the league have more info on the service.
Apple already announced many details on its MLS Season Pass, the company’s biggest entry into live sports streaming yet. However, the company and the league still had a few details they hadn’t yet revealed. As the start of the new season draws closer, the two collaborators shared more info, including that every game will stream in 1080p. That’s the same quality the company offered for its weekly Major League Baseball games last year.
Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar is the latest grimy locale coming to ‘PowerWash Simulator’
Five more filthy free levels are coming to the relaxing game on March 2nd.
PowerWash Simulator developer FuturLab will soon give players more stuff to clean up with their trusty pressure washers, as it’s adding another free crossover expansion. Five levels set in Final Fantasy VII‘s Midgar are coming to the game on March 2nd. Yes, it’s a game where you powerwash stuff. And it’s wonderful.