In a widely shared social media threadTwitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Wednesday stood by the decision to ban President Trump from his company’s platform, saying it was something he was not ‘celebrating or proud of’, but something decided on. based on physical security threats and from Twitter. ‘
Twitter permanent ban Mr. Trump’s report on Saturday as a result of “the risk of further incitement to violence” following the deadly siege on the American Capitol.
Dorsey said it was “the right decision” in his post Wednesday.
“We have faced extraordinary and unsustainable circumstances, which have forced us to focus all our actions on public safety,” he said. “Online damage as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and that drives our policies and enforcement above all else.”
However, Dorsey said the ban on accounts “has real and significant consequences.”
“Although there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel that a ban is a failure on our part to ultimately promote a healthy conversation … To interrupt these actions breaks down the public conversation. It divides us “It limits the potential for enlightenment, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent that I feel is dangerous: the power that an individual or corporation has over a portion of the global public discourse.”
He also said that Twitter is only a small part of a larger conversation over the internet.
Dorsey said that if people do not agree with the rules of a platform and its application, “they can simply go to another service.” But the ability is limited when events unfold like last week, when several social media sites, seemingly uncoordinated, Mr. Trump and others who allegedly incited violence in Washington, DC, censored.
“This moment in time may demand this dynamic, but in the long run it will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open Internet,” Dorsey said. “A company that makes a business decision to moderate itself is different from a government that removes access, but can still feel very much the same.”
In an effort to help combat this, Dorsey said he is working on a platform that could serve as a fundamental internet technology that is not controlled by any individual or entity.
For now, however, he said a global public debate is the ‘best and most relevant’ solution.
“Everything we learn at this moment will improve our efforts, and we will push to be who we are: one humanity working together.”
Mr. Trump addressed censorship on social media on Wednesday in his first video message after the House accused him on Jan. 6 of inciting insurgency over “intentional incitement to violence against the United States government.”
After Trump condemned the riots at the Capitol last week – without taking ownership of any incitement for which he was charged – Mr. Trump spoke of the “unprecedented onslaught on free speech we have seen in recent days.”
Shortly after the riots, Twitter Trump’s personal account permanently suspended, and Facebook suspended his account for the remainder of his presidency. On Tuesday, Youtube the mr. Trump temporarily bans uploading new content.
Meanwhile, ‘freedom of speech’ platform Parler was suspended from the Apple and Google app stores, and eventually shut down by Amazon Web Services, due to failure to moderate violent content. Several posts have shown that on January 20, Trump supporters called on others to take part in a ‘million-militia march’ and that ‘patriots’ had to take their weapons to Washington.
Many individuals have called for a second civil war because Mr. Trump lost the election.
“These are tense and difficult times. The attempts to censor, cancel and blacklist our fellow citizens are wrong, and they are dangerous,” he said. Trump said in the video posted on the White House Twitter account. “What is needed now is for us to listen to each other, not to silence each other. All of us can choose through our actions to rise above the rankings and find a common ground and a shared goal. ‘