X's entire codebase to be made open source in August
What's the story
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and owner of social media platform X, has announced plans to make the site's entire codebase open source next month. The move will mark a first for any social media platform, allowing independent review of its full codebase. "Next month, every line of code touching the X system will be open source and third-party audited," Musk wrote on X. He added, "Only total transparency deserves trust."
Transparency promise
Musk's previous announcement on code release
Musk had first revealed the plan last week, saying the company was identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities before the release.
He had also assured that independent reviewers would be invited to verify that the software running on X matches the code that is made publicly available.
The move would give users, regulators, and developers greater insight into how X works, particularly its recommendation systems, content moderation, and data handling.
Pros and cons
Benefits and challenges of open-sourcing a platform's code
While open-sourcing a codebase can offer technical and business benefits, it also comes with its own set of challenges.
The move would allow outside developers to identify bugs, improve the software, and build new tools. For X, it could strengthen credibility and showcase its engineering capabilities.
However, open-sourcing doesn't always guarantee full transparency as seen with several AI companies that have released model weights or parts of their code while keeping training data proprietary.
Regulatory compliance
X's compliance with EU rules
The announcement comes as Musk's xAI chatbot Grok, integrated with X, has faced scrutiny over its algorithms and the information shared through the platform.
Prosecutors in France are currently investigating the platform's content algorithms for political bias.
Earlier this month, the European Union had accepted an action plan by X to comply with transparency rules under its Digital Services Act.