Founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he is to blame for the failures of the social media company. Amidst the fallout from the release of the “Twitter files, Dorsey said Twitter did not live up to three basic principles and that it was his fault that the company failed to do so.
The first and second principle holds that “social media must be resilient to corporate and government control” and “moderation is best augmented by algorithmic choice.” Under the third principle, only the original author of a content may remove that content.
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:
— jack (@jack) December 13, 2022
Dorsey said Twitter, under its current leadership and when he was the CEO, did not meet up to these three principles. The former Twitter CEO revealed that he gave up on the company after an activist bought Twitter shares 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),” Dorsey wrote in a blog. “I planned my exit at that moment knowing I was no longer right for the company.”
Dorsey added that Twitter faltered in those ideals under his watch and that the situation remains so under the current leadership. Dorsey said he lost all hope of Twitter achieving those goals while the company was public, sharing that he planned to leave the company after it went public.
While Dorsey did not reveal the shareholder’s identity, Daily Mail reported that he was likely referring to Elliott Management.
According to Daily Mail, Elliott Management, under the direction of managing partner Jesse Cohn, bought a majority share in Twitter for $387 million in 2020. Cohn immediately set about trying to oust Dorse from Twitter.
Dorsey said he believed that the only way for Twitter to live up to those principles now is a “free and open protocol for social media, that is not owned by a single company or group of companies, and is resilient to corporate and government influence.”
Dorsey’s revelation comes after Twitter’s current owner and CEO Elon Musk approved the release of the “Twitter Files.” The document showed how top executives were shadowbanning conservatives despite publicly stating otherwise. The documents also showed how Twitter baselessly censored the Hunter Biden Laptop story.
