Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, on Wednesday ,said he supported the social media platform’s ban of US President Donald Trump, while admitting that it sets a “dangerous” precedent. He said that it signifies Twitter’s failure to promote healthy conversation on the platform. The San Francisco-based social media company removed Trump’s account last week, which had 88 million followers, citing risk of further violence following the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters.
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
With a conflicted tone, Dorsey felt the ban was a “failure” of Twitter to “promote healthy conversation”. He wrote:
That said, having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications. While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation. And a time for us to reflect on our operations and the environment around us.
— jack (@jack) January 14, 2021
Twitter has presented several measures over the last year like labels, warnings and distribution restrictions to diminish the need for removing content entirely from the service. Dorsey believes such measures can promote more fruitful, or “healthy,” conversations online and lessen the impact of bad behavior. He also referred to the ‘Blue Sky’ initiative, which he had called “an open and decentralized standard for social media” in December 2019.
However, the platform felt like none of the aforementioned initiatives were a stern enough response. Thus, it had to completely remove Trump’s account.
While Jack did not mention what he meant by “a dangerous precedent,” we assume it refers to other world leaders, who have been exempted from such bans until now. Twitter usually does not remove the accounts of people in power, so that average folk can get relevant information on their leaders. However, with the President’s account being taken down, calls for similar measures for other world leaders, who are posting controversial content as well may increase, which is not a position Twitter wants to be in.
Earlier this month, Pro-Trump protestors stormed the capital leading to numerous deaths, for the purpose of challenging Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November election. Emboldened by the baseless claims of election fraud by the President, they managed to delay the certification by Congress of Biden’s Electoral College win. Since Trump had a clear role to play in inciting the riot, he has been impeached by the US House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis. The House voted 232-197, with 10 members of the Republican party voting for the impeachment.
