X, formerly known as Twitter, released its social recommendation algorithm under an Apache 2.0 open-source license, granting businesses commercial usage and modification rights, according to VentureBeat on January 20, 2026. The algorithm, which determines content visibility on the platform, is based on a "Transformer" architecture powered by xAI's Grok AI language model.
The move aims to provide businesses with a "map" to navigate X's content distribution, potentially improving the return on investment of their social media strategies, VentureBeat reported. The open-sourcing allows enterprises with brand accounts on X, or whose leaders and employees use X to post company PR, to gain valuable insights into how the platform evaluates posts and accounts.
The released code and architecture represent an overhaul of X's social recommendation algorithm, moving away from manual heuristic rules and legacy models, according to VentureBeat. The Apache 2.0 license allows for commercial usage and modification of the algorithm.
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