Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke on Wednesday about his company’s decision last week to ban President Trump from his platform.
“I do not celebrate and do not feel proud that we should ban @realDonaldTrump, or how we got here,” Dorsey begins a long Twitter thread. “After a clear warning that we would take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had, based on threats to physical security, as well as outside of Twitter. Was that correct?
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“I believe it was the right decision for Twitter,” Dorsey continued. “We have faced extraordinary and unsustainable circumstances, which have forced us to focus all our actions on public safety. Offline damage as a result of online speech is provably real, and above all our policy and enforcement drive.
That said, banning an account 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. And a time for us to think about our operations and the environment, ”the CEO continued.
Dorsey acknowledges that taking such action ‘fragments public discourse’, ‘divides us’ and ‘limits the potential for enlightenment, redemption and learning’. He also acknowledged that the power of his corporation in the “global public discourse” had set a “dangerous” precedent.
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“The control and accountability of this power has always been the fact that a service like Twitter is a small part of the larger public conversation that takes place on the internet. If people do not agree with our rules and enforcement, they can simply go to another internet service, ‘Dorsey wrote.
The CEO then pointed to other giants on social media who also suspended or permanently banned Trump’s accounts, writing: “I do not believe this was coordinated”, but claims that such enterprises were probably “encouraged” by the actions of their competitors.
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“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. Yes, we all need to look critically at the contradictions of our policies and enforcement. Yes, we must “Yes, we need distraction and harm. Yes, we need more transparency in our moderation. All of this can not erode a free and open global Internet.”
Dorsey then emphasized a Twitter-funded initiative called ‘bluesky’, which he said would hopefully set an ‘open decentralized standard for social media’. He then promised to commit to ‘public transparency’ as the program developed.
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“It is important that we acknowledge that this is a time of great uncertainty and struggle for so many people around the world. Our aim at the moment is to disarm as much as possible and ensure that we all build towards a greater common understanding, and ‘a more peaceful existence on earth,’ Dorsey continues. “I believe the internet and a global public discourse are our best and most relevant way to achieve this. I also realize that it does not feel that way today. Everything we learn at this moment will improve our efforts and push us to be who we are: one humanity working together. ‘
Following the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, Twitter concluded that allowing Trump to return to the social media platform ‘further incites violence’.
The company highlighted two relatively tame tweets from the president, one of which stated that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration on January 20, and the company argued that this should be seen in a broader context.
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‘These two tweets should be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the president’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the behavioral pattern from this report . in recent weeks, ”the company said. “After reviewing the language in these tweets to our policy on glorifying violence, we have determined that these tweets violate the policy of glorifying violence and the user @realDonaldTrump should be expelled from the service immediately.”