Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced on that he will not be joining the Orwellian mob that is deplatforming Infowars — unless they actually violate the platform’s rules.
Dorsey wrote that part of his decision was so that they would not add fuel to “conspiracy theories.”
“We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday. We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified. Truth is we’ve been terrible at explaining our decisions in the past. We’re fixing that. We’re going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories,” Dorsey wrote in a series of tweets.
We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday. We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Truth is we’ve been terrible at explaining our decisions in the past. We’re fixing that. We’re going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Dorsey continued on to say that “if we succumb and simply react to outside pressure, rather than straightforward principles we enforce (and evolve) impartially regardless of political viewpoints, we become a service that’s constructed by our personal views that can swing in any direction. That’s not us.”
If we succumb and simply react to outside pressure, rather than straightforward principles we enforce (and evolve) impartially regardless of political viewpoints, we become a service that’s constructed by our personal views that can swing in any direction. That’s not us.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Accounts like Jones' can often sensationalize issues and spread unsubstantiated rumors, so it’s critical journalists document, validate, and refute such information directly so people can form their own opinions. This is what serves the public conversation best.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Dorsey then urged journalists to hold Infowars to account and refute anything they may be “sensationalizing.”
The statement appears to be a sharp turn towards free speech for the platform, who has been consistently targeting and shadowbanning conservatives.
The response comes after the Democratic Party activists at Media Matters for America and other liberal outlets, including the New York Times, began ramping up pressure on Periscope, which is owned by Twitter.
The New York Times is now campaigning for @RealAlexJones to be banned from Twitter. https://t.co/PpQthGAouW
— Stefan Molyneux, MA (@StefanMolyneux) August 7, 2018
“In recent days, several broadcasting platforms including YouTube, Apple’s iTunes, and Facebook have banned Jones for violating their content policies. Twitter and Periscope, however, have not taken action against Jones,” the MMFA activist wrote, in a not-so-subtle attempt to shame the tech giant.
Twitter, which owns Periscope, is one of the last Big Tech companies to resist the coordinated censorship.
