Twitter Founder Slams Zuckerberg Over His Free Speech Remarks

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has lashed out at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over his previous free speech-related comments and Iraq War claims.

In comments at the Twitter News Summit in New York City on Thursday, Dorsey asserted that Zuckerberg has a “major gap and flaw” in his drive to uphold free speech.

“We talk a lot about speech and expression and we don’t talk about reach enough, and we don’t talk about amplification. And reach and amplification was not represented in that speech”, Dorsey pointed out.

He also lambasted Zuckerberg’s remarks that Facebook was created in response to the Iraqi War.

“There’s some amount of revisionist history in all his storytelling. It takes away from the authenticity and the genuineness of what we’re trying to do,” Dorsey said.

He also said “hell no” when asked if he would join the Facebook cryptocurrency association Libra.  

“Cryptocurrency wasn’t necessary for them to make that thing work. It’s not an internet open standard. It was born out of a company’s intention. That was not consistent with what I personally believe and want our company to stand for,” Dorsey stressed.

His remarks followed Zuckerberg’s speech last week at Georgetown University, where the Facebook CEO specifically revealed that he decided against banning political ads on the social network in the name of free speech.

Additionally, Zuckerberg defended his company’s refusal to “fact-check” US President Donald Trump’s campaign ads.

Dorsey, for his part, has been harshly criticised over his unwillingness to prevent extremist groups and hate speech from surfacing on Twitter.

The platform, however, remains committed to a hands-off approach even after Democratic Senator Kamala Harris said earlier this month that Twitter should remove Trump’s account for tweets in which he criticised the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint resulted in Democrats launching an impeachment inquiry against him in September.