The image crop feature of Twitter has been phased out in both iOS and Android on May 5. The social networking company now shared information and data on why it had been taken out.
Twitter users celebrated when the image crop feature was finally removed (except for creators of the open for a surprise meme). The cropping algorithm has, multiple times, embarrassed people by focusing on the wrong thing, The Verge reports.
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 07: The Twitter logo is displayed on a banner outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 7, 2013 in New York City. Twitter goes public on the NYSE today and is expected to open at USD 26 per share, making the company worth an estimated USD 18 billion.
And Twitter knows this -- even the reported racial bias, TechCrunch reports. Thus, they had to let users crop their photos themselves.
In the name of transparency, Twitter shares on their website the issues the image cropping algorithm had. It is more than simply trying to ruin the meme that capitalizes on the said feature.
Image Cropping Algorithm: How Problematic Was It?
Through a study, the social network found out that the system bias accusations were slightly accurate. The feature is, indeed, biased towards a certain gender and race to a small extent.
The tests showed that the algorithm favors cropping more white women over black women by 7 percent. Also, it chose white men over black men by 2 percent of the time. It means that overall, Twitter's cropping feature favors white individuals by 4 percent.
In terms of gender, more women are cropped than men, but there were no signs of pervy cropping of the latter -- as Twitter has first suspected. It turns out that the system -- in some instances -- focused on women's sports jerseys instead of their faces.
In more specific data, the algorithm favored women 8 percent of the time than men.
Why Image Cropping Had to Be Phased Out?
Despite the small instances of gender and race biased, Twitter still admits that it could be harmful in ways that have not manifested in the tests.
The test has shown potential risks of the algorithm, according to Twitter. And they have decided that image cropping is not best for an algorithm.
Twitter, henceforth, said: "How to crop an image is a decision best made by people."
And it is why the image crop feature will no longer be available for both Android and iOS users. Desktop users, however, will still encounter automatically cropped photos, The Verge also said in the same report.
Read Also: Twitter Could Limit 'Undo Tweet' Feature to Professional Tweeters Only
Responsible Machine Learning Study
The company announced the initiative to start the said research in April 2021. The Responsible Machine Learning study is meant to gather data and information about the unintentional harm created by Twitter's algorithm.
In addition, the image cropping feature study was the first order of business. However, it does not stop there. The company is also looking to study the algorithm of its tweets.
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Written by Teejay Boris
