Aug 15, 2018

Twitter CEO speaks out on 7-day suspension of Alex Jones

Jack Dorsey, Co-founder and CEO of Twitter. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Wednesday said he didn't know whether the social media platform's 7-day suspension of far-right talk-show host Alex Jones would "impact and change” Jones' behavior.

Why it matters: Twitter’s move came more than a week after companies, including Apple, Facebook and Youtube, banned Jones from their platforms and removed his content. The companies’ actions had intensified mounting debate over the role of tech companies in policing controversial content on their platforms, while upholding the principle of free speech.

The details: The Infowars host and conspiracy theorist’s account got blocked on Tuesday after he tweeted a link to content encouraging violence, a violation of Twitter’s rules. The company has barred some people from its platform, but Dorsey, in an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt, said: “Whether it works within this case to change some of those behaviors and change some of those actions, I don't know. But this is consistent with how we enforce."

Twitter was one of the last major platforms not to promptly ban Jones amid widespread calls to do. Dorsey defended the 7-day “timeout,” telling NBC News: “We can’t build a service that is subjective just to the whims of what we personally believe."

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