Twitter’s Jack Dorsey admits internet companies have too much power and praises bitcoin as a model to change that – By Ari Levy (CNBC) / January 13 2021
- Jack Dorsey posted a series of tweets on Wednesday explaining Twitter’s rationale in banning Trump and laying out some of the problems facing large internet companies.
- Dorsey said the internet should be open and making decisions like this as a private company “sets a precedent I feel is dangerous.”
- He said that’s why he’s such a fan of bitcoin, which has a decentralized model owned by no single company or person.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said on Wednesday that banning President Donald Trump was the “right decision for Twitter,” but admitted that the internet shouldn’t be controlled by a handful of private companies.
In a series of 13 tweets, Dorsey said that online speech resulting in real world harm requires action even if a ban on an account is divisive “and sets a precedent I feel is 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.
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.
— jack (@jack) January 14, 2021
However, the across-the-board bans of Trump following the Capitol riot raised his level of concern.
“This concept was challenged last week when a number of foundational internet tool providers also decided not to host what they found dangerous,” Dorsey wrote. “I do not believe this was coordinated. More likely: companies came to their own conclusions or were emboldened by the actions of others.”
CONTINUE > https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/13/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-internet-companies-too-powerful.html
