Twitter last week deleted US President Trump’s account, citing the risk of violence following the storming of Capitol by his supporters.
Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey says banning US President Donald Trump from his social media platform following last week’s violence in the Capitol was the “right decision,” but said it sets a dangerous precedent.
Twitter from San Francisco last week deleted Trump’s account, which had 88 million followers, citing the risk of further violence following the storming of the Capitol by supporters of the president.
“Taking these actions shreds the public conversation,” Dorsey said on Twitter. ‘They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption and learning. And sets a precedent that I think is dangerous: the power an individual or company has over any part of the global public conversation. “
The ban was criticized by some Republicans who said it suppressed the president’s right to free speech. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also warned through a spokesman that lawmakers, not private companies, should decide on possible restrictions on free speech.
In his Twitter thread, Dorsey said that while he was not proud of the ban, “Offline damage from online speech is arguably real and is what drives our policies and enforcement.”
I am not proud that we should ban it or am not proud of 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 on and off Twitter. Was this correct?
– jack (@jack) January 14, 2021
Still, he added, “While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I think a ban is a failure on our part to ultimately foster healthy conversation.”
Over the past year, Twitter has implemented a series of measures, such as labels, warnings, and distribution restrictions, to reduce the need for decisions to completely remove content from the service.
‘Healthy’ conversations
Dorsey has said he believes these measures can promote more fruitful or ‘healthier’ conversations online and reduce the effect of bad behavior.
The CEO of Twitter added that bans by social media companies on Trump following last week’s violence were encouraged by each other’s actions, even though they were not coordinated. But in the long run, the precedent will “be devastating to the noble purpose and ideals of the open Internet,” he said.
Trump supporters who have repeatedly made baseless allegations against Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November election stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, seeking to stop Congressional certification of Biden’s Electoral College.
On Wednesday, Trump became the first president in US history to be impeached twice.