Is Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey A Good Guy or a Bad Guy?
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The sometimes controversial Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is refusing to back down over fact-checking in the face of continuous criticism from the White House. That makes him a hero in my eyes, and no doubt in the eyes of millions of Americans.
His company, Twitter, has become the target of President Trump’s fury after it added a disclaimer to one of his tweets earlier this week. First, Trump threatened to close down social-media companies who he thinks “show bias” against conservatives, and it was reported late Wednesday that he will sign an executive order to remove important legal protections from sites like Twitter and Facebook. Naturally, this order is all bark with very little bite.
In a series of tweets, Dorsey wrote that Twitter will “continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.”
He added:
This does not make us an ‘arbiter of truth.’ Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves.
Since Trump’s Twitter fact-check feud began, Twitter’s stock has plummeted more than 6% from yesterday morning (as of pre-market trading today at the time of this writing). Perhaps it’s little surprise then that the CEO of the president’s distant-second-favorite social media platform, Facebook, has rushed to state that he is siding with Trump in this feud.
As The New York Post reports, Mark Zuckerberg gave an interview last night to Fox News, which will air today, in which Zuckerberg said social media companies shouldn’t be the “arbiters of truth.” As Zuckerberg told Fox News:
We have a different policy, I think, than Twitter on this . . . I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online. In general, private companies probably shouldn’t be, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that.
Despite his newfound vigor for fighting disinformation, this week Dorsey denied a widower’s request to remove Trump tweets that baselessly suggested Lori Klausutis was murdered in 2001 by her boss, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. At that moment he transformed from hero to goat in the eyes of millions. Nonetheless, that begs the question ‘is he the good guy or the bad guy?’ How about Zuckerberg? Good guy or a bad guy for siding with Trump? How fickle we are after all.
In case you missed it: Now Trump Is Claiming Google Is Out To Get Him?
Read more at The Hollywood Reporter and Fast Company
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As Jack Nicholson said, They “can’t handle the truth.”
I wonder however whether exposing lies or even linking to sources that supply the obvious facts really accomplishes anything. Trumpism sufferers can deny absolutely anything and the all have canned responses to exposure on Snopes or Factcheck.org or indeed any independent source including their own eyes.
The president’s insanity is obvious enough that even the dull and unlettered and misinformed can see it, but for a third to a half of America, belief in Trump is beyond the reach of reality.