Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: Big Tech Platforms ‘Definitely Collaborate’ on Censorship ‘Methods’

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey granted an interview to HuffPost, Thursday, where he discussed collaborating with other Big Tech companies on censorship “methods,” expressed respect for conservative activist Laura Loomer’s fight against his own company, and denied sending his beard hair to rapper Azealia Banks.

The first section of the interview, which was conducted by former Gawker staff writer Ashley Feinberg, was made up entirely of Feinberg asking Dorsey why had unfollowed her on Twitter.

“First, I noticed you unfollowed me on Twitter within the past couple of months or so,” declared Feinberg, adding, “Was there a reason why this happened?”

Dorsey later revealed it was because the HuffPost journalist had been repeatedly harassing him via DMs, demanding the Twitter CEO to delete his platform.

Further in, Dorsey denied intentional censorship of conservatives on Twitter.

“I think it would be easy to believe a perspective if you only look at particular things. And you look at actions based on who you follow and whatnot,” claimed Dorsey after being asked why conservatives believe they’re being censored.

“I mean, people follow people that violate our terms of service and who we take action upon, and if you’re only following those people and you’re not following anyone else, you tend to see that and the perspective is strengthened,” the Twitter CEO declared. “As I said in front of Congress, we do make some mistakes where our algorithms can be super aggressive. But do we build bias into our systems? No, it’s not in our policies, it’s not in our enforcement, and it’s not in our algorithms… So the main thing that we’re focused on is how we stay transparent with our actions and continue to be impartial — not neutral, but impartial.”

Dorsey then added that he “reached out to a bunch of people” to consult over the suspension of Infowars’ Alex Jones, including conservative commentator Ali Alexander, who advised Dorsey against suspending Jones.

Dorsey also denied claims that Big Tech companies work together to censor users, despite noting that they “definitely collaborate” with the companies on “methods.”

“I think the conspiracy theory was that all companies were working in concert together to deplatform… in terms of all platforms working together. We definitely collaborate on methods, but particular actions, we don’t,” Dorsey claimed. “What I said is that there was an active conspiracy theory around all these companies working together. We want to state that we have a Terms of Service and that we are going to follow it. Then when we find that we need to take action, we’ll take action. But there’s no decision other than making sure that we stay true to our enforcement policies.”

During the interview, the Twitter CEO also touched on the controversy over his meditation trip to Myanmar, denied reports that he sent his beard hair to rapper Azealia Banks, and expressed “respect” for conservative activist Laura Loomer — who handcuffed herself to Twitter’s offices after she was suspended.

“I mean, she believes that we’ve done her wrong, and I respect the fight and pushing back on us… I appreciate when people speak up when they think that, you know, someone has done them wrong. Speaking truth to power is something that has flourished on our platform, and she believes we’ve done wrong by her, and she took action,” he expressed. “So, I respect that. I don’t agree with most of the things she says, but, you know.”