Jack Dorsey Responds to Twitter Files: There Were No ‘Hidden Agendas’
Jack Dorsey has waded in the speech of the Twitter files. Writing in a newsletter, Dorsey lightly criticizes the way the files were posted and condemns the attacks on former Twitter executives.
“I continue to believe there were no ill intentions or hidden agendas, and everyone acted on the best information we had at the time,” Dorsey wrote. “As for the files, I wish they were released Wikileaks style, with a lot more eyes and interpretations to consider. There is nothing to hide…only a lot to learn.
The answer is the first time the former CEO has discussed the “Twitter Files” in detail. The disclosures detail some of the company’s internal deliberations over controversial decisions, like Donald Trump’s suspension and Twitter’s handling of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. However, the “files” were only made available to a handful of individuals, who only posted snippets of Slack messages, emails and screenshots of Twitter’s internal tools. . The underlying documents have not been widely distributed or provided to other media.
Notably, Dorsey also addressed the ongoing harassment of former Twitter executives. “The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and solve nothing,” he wrote. “If you want blame, point it at me and my actions, or lack thereof.” CNN Monday that Yoel Roth, the former head of Twitter’s Trust & Safety, had “fleed from his home” after an upsurge in violent threats against him.
Interestingly, Dorsey doesn’t mention Musk by name in his lengthy post. Dorsey had that “Elon is the singular solution I trust” for Twitter, though it’s unclear if he still feels that way. Dorsey, whose personal email was made public in the original installment of the Twitter files, did not respond when asked if he stood by the statement.
As with other recent statements from Dorsey, he also shares many ideas about how content moderation should work – namely that algorithms should be used in favor of a “centralized system” – and his hopes for a “open protocol” that could “make social media a native part of the internet. And he revealed he plans to give messaging app Signal $1 million a year as part of an effort to fund companies working on such protocols.
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