INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Jack Dorsey is hedging his bets
In an interview with CNN Brian Stelter, the beard-rocking CEO said Twitter is reluctant to commit to a timetable for enacting policies aimed
at curbing heated political rhetoric on the site
The executive lukewarm comments reflect an embattled social network that has been the brunt of criticism from both sides of the political
The left has taken Twitter to task for relative inaction over incendiary comments from far right pundits like Alex Jones
The site was slow to act, compared to the likes of services including YouTube, Facebook and even YouPorn (yep).
When it ultimately did ban
Jones& Infowars, it was a seven day ''timeout.& That move, expectedly, has drawn scrutiny from the other side of the aisle
Yesterday, Trump tweeteda critique of social media in general, that is generally being regarded as a thinly-veiled allusion to his embattled
Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices
Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won''t let that happen
They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others
Trump also recently called
for an end to what the right has deemed the &shadow banning& of conservative voices on social media
How do we earn peoples& trust& the CEO asked rhetorically during the conversation
&How do we guide people back to healthy conversation
Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices
Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won''t let that happen
They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others…….
mdash; Donald J
Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
Dorsey suggested that his company is &more left-leaning,& a notion that has made him extra
cautious of blowback from the right
He also continued his position of refusing to hold the company to be accountable for fact-checking, a policy that runs counter to
proclamations of other social media like Facebook
We have not figured this out,& Dorsey said, &but I do think it would be dangerous for a company like ours… to be arbiters of
truth.
.@BrianStelter: Is your job to make sure people are not misinformed on Twitter
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: &We have not figured this
out, but I do think it would be dangerous for a company like ours… to be arbiters of truth.& https://t.co/rC1cbRxEwv
pic.twitter.com/xy4fZs0RUv
mdash; CNN (@CNN) August 19, 2018
For now, Dorsey and co
appear to be in a holding pattern, an indecisiveness that has drawn fire from all sides
The exec pines for a less polarized dialogue, citing NBA and K-Pop accounts as examples of Twitter subcultures that have been more measured
Of course, anyone who spent time reading replies to LeBron or The Warriors can tell you that that a pretty low bar for discourse
The fact of the matter is that this is the state of politics in 2018
Things are vicious and rhetoric can be incendiary
All of that is amplified by social media, as political pundits lean into troubling comments, conspiracy theory and outright lies to drive
clicks.
Dorsey, says he pushing for policies ''that encourage people to talk and to have healthy conversation.& Whatever Twitter &small
staff& might have in the works, it certainly feels a long way off
