> It is a shame that Twitter's algorithm is so damn easy to manipulate that it's basically owned by propaganda firms now.

Not "basically" owned. Manipulation is the explicitly optimized and financed purpose.

The feed is a two-directional manipulation competition, with both directions enhancing each other, with a conflict of interest afterburner, for all parties to maximally control users. Neutrality doesn't exist.

(1) An auction for ads/influence to get your manipulative content in front of the most likely vulnerable users.

(2) A never ending competition to create addictive content, funded in direct proportion to successful impact on users.

(3) And the value in both directions is magnified by the "personalized" leverage manufactured through pervasive logging, beyond service surveillance, dossier collation, psychology hacking and real time feed manipulation.

(4) None of this is impeded by any "standards", neutrality, or a concern about external damage.

Admittedly great things for users and society, except for the four on that list that are not.