It appears that Twitter took disciplinary action against the social media site’s former CEO Dick Costolo after he tweeted a threat to put what he called “me-first capitalists” before a revolutionary firing squad last week. The tweet posted late on September 30 has been taken down and Costolo’s account shows no activity since September 29.
Costolo was CEO of Twitter from 2010 to 2015 when he was replaced by current CEO Jack Dorsey.
Costolo’s tweet read, “Me-first capitalists who think you can separate society from business are going to be the first people lined up against the wall and shot in the revolution. I’ll happily provide video commentary.”
An attempt to pull up the tweet via Google search on Monday pulled up a cached version:
https://twitter.com/dickc/status/1311472075903647750
Screen image of Costolo’s Twitter page shows no tweets or replies since September 29.
The Federalist reported Costolo’s violent tweet was in the context of criticizing a crypto-currency company for not being social justice warriors:
Costolo’s Tweet appeared in a thread he posted criticizing Coinbase, a cryptocurrency company, and their CEO Brian Armstrong for refusing to participate in certain social and political movements such as Black Lives Matter.
In the blog post clarifying the company’s policies, Armstrong explained that the Coinbase leaves “policy decisions, non-profit work, broader societal issues, and political causes” out of their business strategies as much as possible.
“We focus minimally on causes not directly related to the mission,” Armstrong wrote.
According to Costolo, however, Armstrong’s response was not sufficient.
“This isn’t great leadership. It’s the abdication of leadership. It’s the equivalent of telling your employees to ‘shut up and dribble.’” Costolo wrote…
The apparent discipline of Costolo comes amidst Twitter saying it would remove posted death wishes after the site was overrun with such tweets directed at President Trump after he announced last Friday that he was infected with the COVID-19 China coronavirus.
tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against *anyone* are not allowed and will need to be removed. this does not automatically mean suspension. https://t.co/lQ8wWGL2y0 https://t.co/P2vGfUeUQf
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) October 2, 2020
