USA / Trump ban was right but it's a failure that sets dangerous precedent: Twitter CEO

New York: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Wednesday, 13 January, said he backed the social media platform’s ban of US President Donald Trump but also added that it sets a "dangerous" precedent as it represents a failure to promote healthy conversation on the platform.

Outgoing US President Trump’s Twitter account was permanently suspended by the tech giant on Friday, 8 January, citing “risk of further incitement of violence”.

In a long thread on Twitter, Dorsey said, “"Having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications.”

“While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation.”

Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO

He also stressed that he did not “celebrate or feel pride” in implementing the ban on Trump’s Twitter account.

Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.

— jack (@jack) January 14, 2021

“Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation,” Dorsey further wrote.

The banning of Trump’s account by the social media giant has drawn criticism from some Republicans who claimed it was stifling the President’s right to free speech, reported Reuters.

Twitter Permanently Suspends Trump’s Account

At the time of the ban, Twitter wrote in a blog post, “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

The US-based microblogging had earlier temporarily suspended Trump’s account, but later cited two of Trump’s tweets, one of which was about him not attending President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration for their decision.

Twitter announced that the tweets violated its "Glorification of Violence Policy" and therefore, "user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service."

This development came after a group of Trump supporters, whom he referred to as ‘patriots’, barged into the US Capitol and wreaked havoc on 6 January.