Thank goodness for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, the one social media boss possessing the courage to defend free speech. On Monday, Dorsey explained why his platform wouldn’t be copying Facebook and YouTube in banning shock-jock Alex Jones.
We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday. We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
If we succumb and simply react to outside pressure, rather than straightforward principles we enforce (and evolve) impartially regardless of political viewpoints, we become a service that’s constructed by our personal views that can swing in any direction. That’s not us.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Accounts like Jones’ can often sensationalize issues and spread unsubstantiated rumors, so it’s critical journalists document, validate, and refute such information directly so people can form their own opinions. This is what serves the public conversation best.
— jack (@jack) August 8, 2018
Dorsey is correct, and especially so on that latter point. Dorsey recognizes that people choose to use Twitter because they will be relatively unrestricted on what they can say and see there. Dorsey knows that this freedom gives space to trolls who use Twitter to try and upset their fellow users. But Dorsey recognizes it is far better for Jones to be able to say something moronic and be ignored, challenged, or believed than it is for him to be silenced before speaking.
That’s because even where there is no factual merit in what might be said, at the margin, speech sparks thought and greater knowledge. And humans deserve the right to speak their minds. Even then, some say that Twitter’s approach is too risky. Allowing Jones to speak, they say, causes others to suffer immeasurable harm.
I have eyes and ears for these appellants against freedom, but no voice. Ultimately, defamation laws protect individuals against speech that is patently false or stated with malicious disregard for the truth. If Jones says things that fall under those defamation laws he can be, and is currently being, sued. But America is right not to choose the European path of putting subjective emotion before statements of personal belief. That pathway degrades the natural right of freedom and empowers the resistance narratives that individuals like Jones thrive on.
Yes, Twitter is a private business that can set whatever speech standards it wants. But considering the vast global use of his platform, Dorsey recognizes that he has a responsibility to deeper values than political correctness. He deserves credit for taking this courageous stand against the subjectively offended hordes, who would have our eyes, ears, and mouths just a little more imprisoned. Those authoritarian know-betters are far more dangerous than Jones could ever hope to be.
