Free Speech Failure Jack Dorsey Responds to the Twitter Files

In a recent Twitter post, former Twitter CEO and free speech failure Jack Dorsey responded to the recently published Twitter Files.

In a recent post to Twitter, former CEO Jack Dorsey outlined his version of events surrounding the issues discussed in the recent Twitter Files series and provides his suggestions on how to fix the issues at the social media firm.

Dorsey tweeted: “There’s a lot of conversation around the #TwitterFiles. Here’s my take, and thoughts on how to fix the issues identified. I’II start with the principles I’ve come to believe based on everything l’ve learned and experienced through my past actions as a Twitter co-founder and lead”

1. Social media must be resilient to corporate and government control.
2. Only the original author may remove content they produce.
3. Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.

— jack (@jack) December 13, 2022

Dorsey then linked to a long-form post he made on Revue, the newsletter app owned by Twitter. Dorsey outlines the principles he’s come to believe based on what he’s learned at Twitter. He states:

1. Social media must be resilient to corporate and government control.
2. Only the original author may remove content they produce.
3. Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.

He goes on to state that he believes he failed in his attempts to have Twitter follow these principles, writing:

The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles. This is my fault alone, as I completely gave up pushing for them when an activist entered our stock in 2020. I no longer had hope of achieving any of it as a public company with no defense mechanisms (lack of dual-class shares being a key one). I planned my exit at that moment knowing I was no longer right for the company.

He adds that he believes that allowing Twitter to control the public conversation, rather than the users, was his biggest mistake:

The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles. This is my fault alone, as I completely gave up pushing for them when an activist entered our stock in 2020. I no longer had hope of achieving any of it as a public company with no defense mechanisms (lack of dual-class shares being a key one). I planned my exit at that moment knowing I was no longer right for the company.

Breitbart News reporter Allum Bokhari broke down many of Dorsey’s claims in an article published in April, writing:

Jack Dorsey has been talking a good game on the platform he co-founded recently, taking snipes at CNN’s Brian Stelter, criticizing the Twitter Board’s response to Elon Musk’s takeover attempt, and dropping hints that he actually, really, genuinely cared about free expression after all. It’s sad to see so many on the right taken in by it.

Perhaps because it’s been so effectively excluded from mainstream society, but the right has an unfortunate tendency to be a cheap date.

The slightest sign of dissent from an American Brahmin like Dorsey will have prominent conservatives fawning, overcome with the notion that a member of the elite might agree with perhaps two percent of their beliefs.

Dorsey — the friend of Black Lives Matter pioneer DeRay Mckesson, who marched on the streets of Ferguson with the movement that riots, loots, and burns the property of innocent Americans.

Dorsey, who did nothing to stop the suppression of the New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden (an act that probably cost Trump the election).

Dorsey, who did nothing to overturn the internationally condemned ban of a sitting United States president. In fact, he defended censoring Trump and he defended censoring former Breitbart News technology editor Milo Yiannopoulos.

All it takes is a few snarky posts in the mentions of a CNN reporter, and, for some on the right, all is forgiven!

In other words, Dorsey appears to be talking a big game now that he no longer has a major stake in Twitter and doesn’t appear to have tried very hard to implement the strategies he now suggests during his time as CEO of the company.

Read Dorsey’s full argument here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan