Twitter deleted US President Trump’s account last week and cited the risk of violence following the capture of the Capitol by his supporters.
Twitter Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey said banning U.S. President Donald Trump from his social media platform after last week’s violence at the U.S. Capitol was the “right decision “but said it sets a dangerous precedent.
San Francisco-based Twitter last week withdrew Trump’s account, which had 88 million followers, and cited the risk of continuing violence after the Capitol storm by supporters of the president.
“Having to do these actions fragments the public conversation,” Dorsey said on Twitter. “It simply came to our notice then. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And it sets a precedent that I feel is dangerous: the power that a person or a corporation has over a part of the global public conversation. “
The ban received criticism from some Republicans who said it stifled the president’s right to free speech. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also warned through a spokeswoman that lawmakers, not private companies, should decide possible limits on free speech.
In his Twitter thread, Dorsey said that while he was not proud of the ban, “the harm offline as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and our application above all “.
I don’t celebrate or feel proud to have to ban it @realDonaldTrump from Twitter or how we got here. After a clear warning that we would take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical security both on Twitter and outside of it. Was it correct?
– Jack (@jack) January 14, 2021
Still, he added, “While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel the ban is our ultimate failure, to promote a healthy conversation.”
Twitter has introduced a number of measures over the past year such as tags, warnings, and distribution restrictions to reduce the need for decisions about the total removal of service content.
“Healthy” conversations
Dorsey has said she believes these measures can promote more fruitful or “healthy” online conversations and lessen the effect of misbehavior.
The Twitter CEO added that social media companies ’bans on Trump after last week’s violence were encouraged by the actions of others, although they were uncoordinated. But in the long run, the preceding set “will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet,” he said.
Trump supporters who have repeatedly made unfounded claims to challenge Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November election, stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, trying to stop certification for the College Congress victory Biden Electoral.
On Wednesday, Trump became the first president in U.S. history to be indicted twice.