Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Admits Mistakes, Says Site Still Has Problems

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey said the social media platform had issues before Elon Musk bought it, admitting to his own mistakes in running the company.

On Tuesday, Dorsey posted on the blogging platform Revue about his time at Twitter. In the post, Dorsey also discussed the changes he wanted to make to the site, and why he couldn't implement them.

Dorsey also acknowledged the "TwitterFiles," a series of internal communications from before Musk purchased the company that Musk is sharing with politically conservative writers, CNBC reports. Musk said he is releasing the information as proof that Twitter's previous content moderation tactics were organized to silence conservative voices.

Dorsey did not mention Musk by name, nor was he outwardly critical of his actions as Twitter's new CEO. However, Dorsey said he wished the "TwitterFiles" could be released "Wikileaks-style" for transparency, and also urged any criticism or attack for Twitter's past actions be directed at him.

"The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and doesn't solve anything. If you want to blame, direct it at me and my actions, or lack thereof," he wrote.

Musk, who purchased Twitter in October for $44 billion, has been particularly critical of Twitter's decision to ban former President Donald Trump. His account was suspended two days after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, out of concern about Trump inciting further violence and sharing misinformation. On Nov. 19, Musk reinstated Trump's Twitter account after polling his followers on the site.

Musk has been harassing former Twitter employees online, including the former head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth. He and his family were forced to flee their home this week after being inundated with threats after Musk posted an out-of-context excerpt of Roth's academic research on youth safety online, insinuating Roth was promoting the exploitation of children.

Dorsey believes social media companies have too much power and control over user experience and content mediation and said the suspension of Trump was the right thing for the company but the wrong decision for "the internet and society."

"I continue to believe there was no ill intent or hidden agendas, and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time. Of course mistakes were made," Dorsey said.

Dorsey highlighted three guiding principles for social media businesses he learned from his time at Twitter. First, social media should be "resilient to corporate and government control." Second, only the original creator of content should be able to remove it. And third, that content moderation is best achieved through algorithmic choice.

"The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles," Dorsey said. "This is my fault alone, as I completely gave up pushing for them when an activist entered our stock in 2020."

CNBC reports the "activist" Dorsey mentions is Elliot Investment Management. The firm became involved in Twitter over two years ago and is both an investment management company and one of the largest activist hedge funds in the world, according to its website.

Dorsey said he is now focusing on creating an open internet and protocol. He is offering grants focusing on "giving cash and equity grants to engineering teams working on social media and private communication protocols, bitcoin, and a web-only mobile OS."