The Media Research Center released reports using X’s AI Grok to reveal how X’s algorithms use four core metrics (ranging from 0 to 100) to suppress or promote members of congress and accounts of former president Donald Trump's potential vice president picks. 

According to Grok, these factors include “Mass Appeal” (diversity of followers), “Reputation” (purported reliability or "Tweepcred"), “Toxicity” (potentially offensive content or perceived harmfulness) and “Follower” (the account’s follower retention). Each category is weighted differently in how it impacts the overall visibility score, which is then used to determine accounts’ reach. For example, Mass Appeal is weighted at (38 percent), Reputation (30 percent), Toxicity (21 percent), and Follower (11 percent). 

Across all four categories, X on average consistently rated Democrat members of Congress better than members of the GOP. Trump vice presidential pick hopeful Sen. J.D. Vance was no exception. The senator received a Mass Appeal score of 60, a Reputation score of  50, a Toxicity score of 70 and an overall score of 58.125.

When MRC prompted Grok to explain how it came up with a score for each account, the chatbot stated that “the minimum Tweepcred [reputation] score required for a user to be recommended on Twitter is 65,” indicating that any account with a lower score is de-amplified. Further, wrote Grok, “Accounts with higher Tweepcred scores are more likely to have their posts seen by a larger audience, while those with lower scores may have their posts deprioritized in the platform's algorithm.” 

Javi Lopez, a tech expert and founder of image generator Magnify AI affirmed Lopez's assessment. He wrote in an Oct. 25, 2023 X post that if one’s “Tweepcred” score “is above 65, you're in luck. Below that, you're out of the game. The shadow ban I experienced last week must have sent my reputation to the depths.”