Political consultant John Rowley says Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is one of the few tech chiefs willing to speak openly and honestly about political bias on social media — and he may be the last.
“In this world where there is no truth, he may be the last honest person commenting publicly about anything,” Rowley, founder of CounterPoint Messaging, told Hill.TV.
Dorsey told CNN in an interview that aired on Saturday that he “fully admit[s]” that Twitter employees tend to share a more left-leaning bias and that he hasn’t done enough when it comes “being open about our own personal views.”
But Dorsey insisted that potential bias from employees has in no way motivated what does or doesn’t make it on the platform, saying the social media giant polices behavior, not content.
“There’s no doubt in the tech companies, they’re on the West Coast, they’re in Northern California, there’s going to be a skew left, I don’t think it’s really debatable,” Rolwey said.
“I think that he owned [that] is admirable,” he added.
Twitter is currently being attacked from both sides of the political divide.
Those on the left have criticized the platform for not being tough enough on right-wing provocateurs like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. While other tech giants such as Apple and Facebook have recently completely banned Jones and his website, Infowars, from their platform, Twitter handed down only a weeklong ban.
Conservatives, meanwhile, have long accused the site of “shadow banning” and being biased against their agenda.
In July, President Trump accused Twitter of “shadow banning” prominent Republicans, hinting that he would do something about it. Trump renewed his criticism on Saturday following Dorsey’s interview, this time attacking social media as a whole for “totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices.”
— Tess Bonn
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