OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter who was at the helm of the company when former President Donald Trump was permanently banned from the platform, has now admitted that he made a mistake.
It came after Elon Musk, who looks to be the new owner of Twitter, announced in an interview that he would end the ban on the former president and said that Dorsey agrees with him.
“Musk says @jack agrees with him that there shouldn’t be permanent bans on individual Twitter users. Reminder that Dorsey was CEO when such bans were implemented,” Axios editor Dan Primack said on Twitter, prompting a response from Dorsey.
Musk says @jack agrees with him that there shouldn't be permanent bans on individual Twitter users.
Reminder that Dorsey was CEO when such bans were implemented.
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) May 10, 2022
“I do agree. There are exceptions (CSE, illegal behaviour, spam or network manipulation, etc), but generally permanent bans are a failure of ours and don’t work, which I wrote about here after the event (and called for a resilient social media protocol),” he said as he quote tweeted himself after the ban of Trump.
I do agree. There are exceptions (CSE, illegal behaviour, spam or network manipulation, etc), but generally permanent bans are a failure of ours and don't work, which I wrote about here after the event (and called for a resilient social media protocol): https://t.co/fQ9KnrCQGX
— jack⚡️ (@jack) May 10, 2022
“A bit confused. That old thread you posted says you agree with the decision, but regret the circumstances/decisions/etc. that led to that conclusion of a perma ban. Or am I misreading? Or are you saying the decision should have been subsequently revisited?” the reporter said.
A bit confused. That old thread you posted says you agree with the decision, but regret the circumstances/decisions/etc. that led to that conclusion of a perma ban. Or am I misreading? Or are you saying the decision should have been subsequently revisited?
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) May 10, 2022
“it was a business decision, it shouldn’t have been. and we should always revisit our decisions and evolve as necessary. I stated in that thread and still believe that permanent bans of individuals are directionally wrong,” the former CEO responded.
it was a business decision, it shouldn't have been. and we should always revisit our decisions and evolve as necessary. I stated in that thread and still believe that permanent bans of individuals are directionally wrong.
— jack⚡️ (@jack) May 10, 2022
It was Tuesday when Musk, in an interview, when he said the ban of Trump was “flat out stupid.”
The billionaire CEO of Tesla, Space X and Starlink said that he would reinstate the former president on the platform if he does ultimately own the company, The Financial Times reported.
He said that the ban “was morally wrong and flat out stupid.”
“Are you planning to let Donald Trump back on?” the reporter said, calling it the “toupeed elephant in the room.”
“I’ve talked with (former Twitter CEO) Jack Dorsey about this and he and I are of the same mind which is that permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for … accounts that are bots and spam, scam accounts,” he said.
“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice. He is now going to be on Truth Social as will a large part of the, sort of the right in the United States. And so I think this can end up being frankly worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate.
“I guess the answer is that I would reverse the permanent ban, obviously I don’t own Twitter yet so this is not a thing that will definitely happen because what if I don’t own Twitter? But my opinion – is that we should not have permanent bans,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean that somebody gets to say whatever they want to say. If they say something that is illegal or otherwise destructive to the world then there should be perhaps a timeout, a temporary suspension or that particular tweet should be made invisible or have very limited traction.
“But I think perm bans just fundamentally undermine trust in twitter as a town square where everyone can voice their opinion.
“I think it was a morally bad decision to be clear, and foolish in the extreme,” he said.
The interviewer pressed, accusing Trump of “egging on” the January 6 rioters.
“I think if there are tweets that are wrong and bad those should be either deleted or made invisible and a suspension, a temporary suspension is appropriate but not a permanent ban.
The interviewer asked again if he would be back on.
“He has publicly stated that he will not be coming back to Twitter and that he will only be on Truth Social,” he said.
“And this is the point that I’m trying to make … is that banning Trump from Twitter did not end Trump’s voice. It will amplify it among the right and this is why it is morally wrong a flat out stupid,” he said.
