It’s been a week since Twitter permanently removed Donald Trump’s Twitter account and Jack Dorsey, CEO of the social media company, defended the decision through tweets posted on his profile in which he stated that it was the “right decision.” The movement has been accused of an attempt to silence the most conservative voices by right-wing movements.
This is a long thread (extending to 13 tweets) in which Dorsey talks about the importance, but also the dangers of determination. First, Dorsey said that Twitter was facing “an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety. Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all.”
Jack Dorsey posted a series of tweets on the recent events
However, Dorsey also assures that having to perform this action is not to celebrate. For him, Twitter’s CEO, the social network’s determination sets a dangerous precedent.
I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here. After a clear warning we’d take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter. Was this correct?
— jack (@jack) January 14, 2021
“Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.” Dorsey says this was the right decision at the time. However, it may prove to be destructive to the “noble purpose and ideals of the open internet”
Dorsey also responds in his tweets to those who have questioned this decision. For him the company did nothing more than respond to something basic: if someone doesn’t like the rules set for the platform, they can go elsewhere. For him, this is what happened last week with most companies: technology companies reacting to a discourse that violated their rules and decided to impose actions.
