Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Defends Giving Alex Jones a Platform: ‘He Hasn’t Violated Our Rules’
After two days of nonstop news coverage on all the social media sites that have banned or partially banned content from Infowars, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended keeping Alex Jones on the platform by saying that “he hasn’t violated our rules.”
“We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday,” Dorsey wrote on Tuesday night. “We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules.”
In a lengthy Twitter thread, Dorsey went on to try and make peace with those who want Jones — who is America’s most famous conspiracy theorist — off of Twitter by clarifying that he will be held “to the same standard we hold to every account” to.
“We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified,” he added.
Dorsey was heavily pressured today and on Monday to ban Jones and Infowars from using Twitter to spread their disinformation — which range from 9/11 truther nonsense to Sandy Hook denial claims — since Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and Facebook all took measures to ensure that his content was removed or partially censored.
Read Dorsey’s full explanation below:
We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday. We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Truth is we’ve been terrible at explaining our decisions in the past. We’re fixing that. We’re going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
If we succumb and simply react to outside pressure, rather than straightforward principles we enforce (and evolve) impartially regardless of political viewpoints, we become a service that’s constructed by our personal views that can swing in any direction. That’s not us.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Accounts like Jones’ can often sensationalize issues and spread unsubstantiated rumors, so it’s critical journalists document, validate, and refute such information directly so people can form their own opinions. This is what serves the public conversation best.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
[image via screengrab]
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