'Was This Correct?' Twitter's Dorsey Asks About Banning Trump, and Then Says 'Yes'
He also praised Bitcoin as a "technology that is not controlled or influenced by any single individual or entity."
Jan 14, 2021 at 1:16 a.m. UTCUpdated Sep 14, 2021 at 10:56 a.m. UTC
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took to (where else?) Twitter to ask the question, "Was this correct?" regarding his company's decision to ban U.S. President Donald Trump from the platform following last week's attack on the Capitol.
After that opening expression of doubt, he proceeded to answer that yes, it was.
- Dorsey then, in a thoughtful, multipart thread, laid out his rationale for the action, trying to square his belief in open unfiltered communication with the act of silencing the president of the U.S.
- The Twitter CEO also seemed to reference the recent removal of Parler, a conservative social media platform, from both the Apple and Google app stores in the wake of the attack on the Capitol as well as Amazon's decision not to host Parler on its servers for the same reason, hitting back at claims the action was coordinated by the tech giants.
- "I do not believe this was coordinated," Dorsey said. "More likely companies came to their own conclusions or were emboldened by the actions of others."
- Despite the CEO's defense of Twitter's and other companies' actions in the here and now, Dorsey warned they should not become the rule. "This moment in time might call for this dynamic, but over the long term it will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet."
- Even while laying out his justifications Dorsey expressed misgivings, saying, "[H]aving to ban an account has real and significant ramifications." It, Dorsey said, "sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation."
- Even though there's a difference between a private company banning someone and a government doing it, the effect can feel the same, he said.
- He also declared his "passion" for Bitcoin in almost lyrical fashion.
- Bitcoin, he wrote, offers a model of "a foundational internet technology that is not controlled or influenced by any single individual or entity. This is what the internet wants to be, and over time, more of it will be."
UPDATE (Jan. 14, 02:00 UTC): Adds more from Dorsey's tweet thread and deplatforming context.
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