March: Twitter’s VIP list leaks
Shortly after Musk took over the platform in the fall, a mysterious list emerged on the internet. That list contained names like congresswoman AOC, basketball star Lebron James, YouTuber and failed burger restaurant entrepreneur MrBeast, and far-right memer catturd2. The entire list had 35 names, and news broke that said list was a roster of accounts that Twitter was pushing onto people’s timelines, increasing their visibility seemingly at will. The list was reportedly developed to monitor engagement on the platform as users interacted with these power users and study how changes to the website’s recommendation algorithm would effect that engagement.
