Twitter removed President Trump’s account last week, citing the risk of violence after his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Jack Dorsey, chief executive of Twitter Inc, said US President Donald Trump’s ban from his social media platform after last week’s violence in the US Capitol was the “right decision,” but said that this was a dangerous precedent.
San Francisco-based Twitter last week removed Trump’s 88 million followers account, citing the risk of further violence by presidential supporters after the Capitol storms.
“Taking these steps fragments the public conversation,” Dorsey said on Twitter. “You share us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent that I consider dangerous: the power that an individual or a company has over part of global public conversation. “
The ban has been criticized by some Republicans who said it removed the president’s right to freedom of expression. Chancellor Angela Merkel also warned through a spokesman that lawmakers, not private companies, should decide on possible restrictions on freedom of expression.
On his Twitter thread, Dorsey said that while he wasn’t proud of the ban, “offline harm from online speech is demonstrably real and, most importantly, powers our policies and enforcement.”
I’m not celebrating and I’m not proud of the need to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter or how we got here. After giving a clear warning that we would take this action, we made a decision based on the best information we had due to physical security threats on and off Twitter. Was that right?
– jack (@jack) January 14, 2021
Nonetheless, he added, “Although there are clear and obvious exceptions, I consider a prohibition to be a failure of us to promote ultimately healthy conversation.”
Twitter implemented a number of measures over the past year, including labels, warnings, and distribution restrictions, to reduce the need for decisions about removing content entirely from the service.
“Healthy” conversations
Dorsey believes these interventions can promote more fruitful or “healthier” online conversations and reduce the effects of bad behavior.
The Twitter CEO added that social media company bans on Trump after last week’s violence were encouraged by each other’s actions, although they were not coordinated. But in the long run, the precedent will “destroy the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet,” he said.
Trump supporters, who have repeatedly made baseless claims questioning Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November election, stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, attempting to stop Biden from certifying the electoral college .
On Wednesday, Trump became the first president in US history to be charged twice.
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