Correction, September 5, 2026
This post originally quoted specific “hard-coded” engagement weights from X’s open-source ranking code, a 20.0x weight for retweets, 13.5x for replies, a -5.0 “link tax” penalty for external links, and a 10.0 native-video boost, plus a file path (x-algorithm/phoenix/scoring/weights.rs) and a struct named EngagementWeights. Checked directly against the real public repository today, none of that is accurate. The numbers were wrong, the file path was wrong, and the strategic advice built on them (avoid links in your main post, chase retweets over replies) does not hold up against the actual code. Corrected below with the real weights and what they actually mean for Amazon creators posting on X.
What X’s real ranking code actually says
X (formerly Twitter) does maintain a public repository for its “For You” feed ranking code at xai-org/x-algorithm on GitHub. The real engagement weights live in home-mixer/params/param.rs, not in a file called scoring/weights.rs, and there is no EngagementWeights struct with the values this post used to quote.
The real positive action weights, straight from that file:
- Reply: 5.0
- Quote: 5.0
- Follow author: 4.0
- Share: 2.0
- Retweet: 1.0
- Favorite (like): 0.5
- Open link: 0.2 (a small positive weight, not a penalty)
- Video open: 0.07
Negative actions (not interested, block, mute, report) carry much larger negative weights than anything on the positive side, which is the real “spam” signal, not a specific external-link penalty. The code’s own documentation is explicit that these weights scale a model’s predicted probability of an action, not the raw count of likes or retweets on a post, so treating “5 retweets = 100 points” as literal math (the claim this post used to make) misreads how the scoring actually works.
What this means for the strategy this post used to recommend
The corrected numbers reverse two of the original claims:
- Replies, not retweets, carry the higher weight. Reply (5.0) and Quote (5.0) both outweigh Retweet (1.0) in the real code. Content that starts a genuine conversation in the replies is closer to what the algorithm actually rewards than content optimized purely to be reposted.
- There is no “link tax.” Open Link carries a small positive weight (0.2), not a -5.0 penalty. The advice to always hide your Amazon link in a reply instead of the main post is not supported by the real weights. A clear, honest link in your post is not the penalty this post used to describe, disclosure and clarity still matter more than gaming a number that does not exist.
- Native video’s boost is real but small. Video Open is weighted at 0.07, the smallest positive weight in the table, not the outsized 10.0 boost this post claimed.
The general, honest takeaway still holds even with the real numbers: engagement that shows real interest (a reply, a quote, a follow) tends to matter more to ranking systems than a passive tap, and posting something worth reacting to beats posting a bare link. That part was directionally reasonable. The specific numbers and the file this post claimed to quote were not, and a guide that gets caught fabricating a code quote does more damage to trust than it’s worth, so it’s corrected here plainly rather than left standing.
What to actually do as an Amazon creator on X
- Write posts that invite a real reply or a quote, not just a like, since those are the weights that are actually higher in the real code.
- Don’t avoid putting your Amazon link in your main post out of fear of a penalty that isn’t real. Keep your FTC disclosure and Associates line wherever the recommendation actually appears, as covered in our FTC disclosure guide.
- Treat any single number pulled from a fast-moving open-source repo as something to re-check before building a content strategy around it. Code changes, and a screenshot of a file from months ago may not reflect what’s live today.
Related reading
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