The appointment of Parag Agrawal as the CEO of Twitter has alarmed conservatives because of his statements that he does not prioritize free speech and that his platform is not neutral when it comes to content.
At the same time, though, technology industry insiders expect that based on Agrawal’s engineering background, he will also likely push the platform to provide users with greater choice in content moderation.
Agrawal, 37, who took over the social media giant from former CEO Jack Dorsey earlier this week, joined Twitter in 2011 as a software engineer before rising through the ranks to become the company’s chief technology officer in 2017 and one of Dorsey’s closest advisers.
Agrawal is taking control as social media giants face increasing scrutiny from the Left and the Right and a heightened threat of significant regulation. In outlining his thoughts on content moderation in an interview with the MIT Technology Review in November 2020, Agrawal said Twitter is trying to balance mitigating harm caused by false content and misinformation without becoming an arbiter of truth.
“Our role is not to be bound by the First Amendment, but our role is to serve a healthy public conversation, and our moves are reflective of things that we believe lead to a healthier public conversation,” Agrawal said.
“The kinds of things that we do about this is: Focus less on thinking about free speech, but thinking about how the times have changed,” he added.
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Those comments, which resurfaced after Agrawal was announced as CEO, raised flags among conservatives, who fear that their speech is at risk.
Agrawal also said Twitter is not a “neutral party” and that preventing harm is one of the platform’s priorities. He said harm is often defined by “credible sources,” such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when it comes to the coronavirus.
On Agrawal’s first day on the job, Twitter introduced a new private information policy that provides for the removal of content if private citizens or their authorized representatives want a photo or video of themselves taken down.
The new policy and Agrawal’s past comments, along with old tweets, indicate he could be more aggressive about policing content.
“Based on the new Twitter CEO’s tweets and interviews, it appears that Twitter’s censorship will only get worse,” said Mike Davis, president of the Internet Accountability Project, a conservative advocacy group. “His new policy on private video and photos and his rhetoric on speech issues show a pattern of behavior that it’s likely more content will be taken down.”
Other conservatives say that, although free speech is not a core value of Agrawal’s, there is unlikely to be much change between his approach to content moderation and that of Dorsey. Although Twitter alienated many conservatives by banning an incriminating New York Post story about Hunter Biden before the 2020 election, Dorsey was viewed as a relatively pro-free speech voice in Silicon Valley.
“He’s one of Dorsey’s guys, and so there’s unlikely to be any significant shift in speech policies, maybe incremental changes at most,” said Neil Chilson, acting chief technologist at the Federal Trade Commission for a year during the Trump administration.
Chilson was also encouraged by Agrawal’s involvement in Bluesky, a research project launched at Twitter to establish more open and decentralized standards for social media platforms, including regarding content moderation.
“Bluesky … and other decentralizing projects Agrawal favors would lead to less content moderation and allow users to be able to choose their level of moderation, provide more user choice,” said Chilson, who is now a senior research fellow at the Charles Koch Institute, a libertarian research organization.
Chilson added that Agrawal’s strong engineering background and inclination toward distributed decision-making showed there was an “upside to him” as CEO.
Technology industry insiders say Twitter and Agrawal’s focus on keeping users safe inherently requires de-prioritizing free speech.
“Twitter surveys show users want more safety and privacy, which naturally results in a push back on the free expression norm that led to the 2020 election fraud lies and the Capitol insurrection,” said Adam Kovacevich, CEO of the Chamber of Progress, an advocacy group backed by Big Tech companies such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google.
“Twitter’s approach to content moderation shows experimentation and them grappling with the issues in the hopes of creating a healthier conversation online,” Kovacevich said.
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Nevertheless, Kovacevich said he doesn’t expect any “radical changes” regarding Twitter’s approach to speech under Agrawal.
