Jack Dorsey: Twitter CEO says Trump ban is right, but sets a 'dangerous' precedent

“I believe this is the right decision for Twitter,” Dorsey said A series of 13 posts On his platform, the social media company was forced to “focus all our actions on public safety”, citing “extraordinary and unacceptable” circumstances after Trump provoked a riot in US capital last week.

“I’m not going to celebrate or be proud of banning @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here,” Dorsey said. “Offline harm as a result of online talk is real, and it drives our policy and enforcement above all else.”

For the past four years, Twitter (D.W.T.R.) Was central to Trump’s presidency, which benefited the company in the form of countless hours of user engagement. Twitter took a mildly tactile approach to managing his account, often as a public official, arguing that Trump should be given broad latitude to speak of. But the riots in the Capitol led to a ban.

Dorsey understood the implications of the decision in his posts, acknowledging that “blocking an account has real and significant changes”. Deleting users, he said, breaks public discourse and divides people.

“When there are clear and obvious exceptions, I think the ban on promoting healthy conversation is our failure. And it is time to think about our activities and the environment around us,” he said.

The CEO also cited similar measures by other social media companies Facebook (FB) And Snapshot (SNAP), To ban the president. These activities are not coordinated, Dorsey said, but presents a challenge to the technology sector.

“The check and accountability of this power has always been a small part of the big public conversation that takes place across the internet about a service like Twitter,” he said. “If everyone disagrees with our rules and enforcement, they can simply go to another web service.”

“This concept was challenged last week and many grassroots web tool providers decided not to host that they were dangerous,” he continued.

Amazon (AMZN) Effectively Killed the parlor, A site favored by extreme right-wingers when its web hosting contract was terminated.

The decision to ban the president from Twitter had immediate consequences: Trump lost access to more than 88 million followers, and the move exposed the company to censorship complaints from Republicans. Democrats exploded the role of social media in implementing Trump and warned of new laws to regulate the technology sector.

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Dorsey suggested in his posts that the technology industry’s actions could have long-term impacts.

“This may call for dynamism at the moment, but in the long run it will be disastrous for the lofty purpose and ideals of the open internet.

“Yes, we all need to look critically at the contradictions in our policy and implementation. Yes, we need to look at how distracting and detrimental our service can be. Yes, we need more transparency in our moderate operations. All of this cannot be eroded. He said.

– Contributed to Brian Fung Reporting.