Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified remotely during a hearing with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, “Are Section 230’s Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Oct. 28, 2020.
Greg Nash | Swimming pool | Reuters
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s ban was “the right decision for Twitter,” but acknowledged that the Internet should not be controlled by a handful of private companies.
In a series of 13 tweets, Dorsey said that online speech that results in bad things in the real world requires action, even if banning an account is divisible “and sets a precedent that I consider dangerous.” He wrote that if a company like Twitter makes a decision that people don’t like, they can go elsewhere, creating an inherent check on its power.
However, Trump’s general bans following the Capitol riots have raised concerns.
“This concept was challenged last week, when a number of fundamental internet tool providers also decided not to host what they found dangerous,” Dorsey wrote. “I don’t think this was coordinated. More likely: companies came to their own conclusions or were encouraged by the actions of others.”
Twitter and Facebook took Trump’s account after last week’s violence at the Capitol, which was incited by the president and his comments on social media. YouTube followed on Tuesday, eliminating Trump’s last significant online channel because it reached tens of millions of followers.
Meanwhile, the Parler app, used mostly by conservatives, has been banned by Apple and Google because of its violent content and poor controls around moderation. Amazon’s web services also took access from Parler.
Dorsey said inconsistent policies and a lack of transparency undermine efforts to create an open internet.
“That’s why I have so much passion for #Bitcoin it is largely due to the model it demonstrates: a basic Internet technology that is not controlled or influenced by a single individual or entity, “Dorsey wrote.” This is what the internet wants to be and, over time, it will be more of it. “
He referred to an announcement at the end of 2019, when Twitter said it was funding a small team called Bluesky to come up with “an open decentralized standard for social media.” He said the project is now underway and “will do the job completely through public transparency”.
CLOCK: Twitter without Trump