Jack Dorsey defends Twitter ban on Donald Trump. Jack Dorsey defends Twitter ban in a series of tweets after the platform banned @RealDonaldTrump on Friday.
The ban was in response to fears that the president could use the page to incite further violence following the Capitol Riots with the upcoming inauguration of President-Elect Biden.
Reactions to the ban have been mixed – some calling it unwarranted censorship, with others saying it’s too little, too late. But through it all, Jack Dorsey has defended his decision, saying it was not an easy one to make.
He wrote in a lengthy thread: “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?….
I believe this was the right decision for Twitter. We faced 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.”
Dorsey also acknowledged how monumental it was to ban an account that belonged to a world leader – he acknowledged that the platform has the power to fracture communities and unnecessarily divide people. He accepted and admitted fault to promote healthy conversation and that the ban was the result of that failure.
Dorsey has promised reviews, policies, and procedures for how Twitter will approach issues like this in the future, saying:
“The check and accountability on this power has always been the fact that a service like Twitter is one small part of the larger public conversation happening across the internet. If folks do not agree with our rules and enforcement, they can simply go to another internet service.”
Trump, to date, has been banned on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch, and others.
Parler has also been kicked off app stores, igniting fury and ire from Trump Supporters who used the app as a hub for “free speech”.
Dorsey claims that this was not a coordinated social media attack on Donald Trump or his followers, saying:
“More likely: companies came to their own conclusions or were emboldened by the actions of others,”
Read Dorsey’s full thread here.
We here at CTP just have a question for Jack – how can you promote censorship resistant money while promoting a ban on our president?
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