Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Says Conservative Employees ‘Don’t Feel Safe To Express Their Opinions’ At The Company
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey revealed on a recent podcast that he felt Twitter had become so liberal that conservative employees “don’t feel safe to express their opinions” within the company, according to Recode.
“We have a lot of conservative-leaning folks in the company as well, and to be honest, they don’t feel safe to express their opinions at the company,” Dorsey said. “They do feel silenced by just the general swirl of what they perceive to be the broader percentage of leanings within the company, and I don’t think that’s fair or right.”
Dorsey also explained why he mentioned Twitter’s left-leaning employee bias at all.
“I think it’s more and more important to at least clarify what our own bias leans towards, and just express it,” he added. “I’d rather know what someone biases to rather than try to interpret through their actions.”
These comments come after a highly-publicized period of attacks on Twitter by claiming the company is trying to silence conservative voices, reports The New York Times.
Conservative figures are quick to claim tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are actively working to suppress conservative voices and opinions, issuing so-called shadow bans and constantly attacking President Donald Trump.
Public officials, such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, clearly take these claims seriously, even taking it so far as to consider launching a formal investigation to determine whether or not tech giants are indeed suppressing conservative viewpoints, Bloomberg details.
Twitter is so liberal that its conservative employees ‘don’t feel safe to express their opinions’, says CEO Jack Dorsey https://t.co/nUdD9wLp0k pic.twitter.com/iQ64BQFD1c
— Recode (@Recode) September 14, 2018
According to CNBC, Twitter could be seen as the most recent offender, banning conspiracy-minded conservative figure Alex Jones — and his associated platform, InfoWars — after his content was removed from platforms like Apple, Facebook and YouTube.
Initially, Jones and InfoWars were given a week-long ban, allegedly due to violating the Twitter terms of service, but were later allowed back onto the platform after serving his seven days.
Jones was permanently banned from Twitter after harassing CNN reporter Oliver Darcy, calling him “the equivalent of, like, the Hitler Youth.”
Since testifying in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dorsey has been trying to increase the feedback he’s getting.
For example, Dorsey recently went on Fox News host and commentator Sean Hannity’s radio show, where he assured listeners, “We do not shadow ban according to political ideology or viewpoint or content period.”
Dorsey also met with conservative politicians in Washington this past summer to “build ‘trust’ among conservatives who have long chastised the company,” according to the Washington Post.
“We should make sure that everyone feels safe to express themselves within the company, no matter where they come from and what their background is,” Dorsey told Rosen.
