In the wake of the “Twitter Files,” which proved that Twitter colluded with Democrats and the FBI to silence conservatives, former CEO Jack Dorsey is in deep water now that his forgotten testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Committee has resurfaced.
In 2018, Dorsey testified before the committee about Twitter’s “Transparency and Accountability” and was asked if it shadow-banned conservative accounts. He denied the allegations.
“I want to read a few quotes about Twitter’s practices, and I just want you to tell me if they’re true or not,” Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) told Dorsey. “Social media is being rigged to censor conservatives. Is that true of Twitter?” Dorsey said “No” to Doyle, along with questions about general censorship and shadow-banning Republicans. Further, Dorsey told Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) that his company’s algorithm was not designed to ban GOP lawmakers.
Twitter did all of the above for years, according to journalists who were given full access to Twitter’s internal documents by Elon Musk, the new CEO. For the second installment of the Twitter Files, independent journalist Bari Weiss reported that the Strategic Response Team – Global Escalation Team decided to limit certain users’ reach. It was typical for the response team to handle up to 200 cases per day.
It appears that Twitter officials moved beyond content moderation through admins to implement censorship. It was through the ‘Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support’ team that the most politically motivated decisions were made. This secret group was made up of the Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust, Vijaya Gadde, the Global Head of Trust & Safety, Yoel Roth, and subsequent CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal.
However, it’s unclear if Dorsey knew anything about his own company. “Controversial decisions were often made without getting Jack’s approval and he was unaware of systemic bias,” Musk tweeted. “The inmates were running the asylum.” Musk followed up his support for Dorsey by writing, “Jack has a pure heart imo.”
Controversial decisions were often made without getting Jack’s approval and he was unaware of systemic bias. The inmates were running the asylum.
Jack has a pure heart imo.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022
Consequently, according to law professor Jonathan Turley at George Washington University, Dorsey may be subject to perjury charges due to his verifiably false testimony. “On its face, Dorsey has vulnerability after the latest release. Dorsey was repeatedly asked about censoring and shadow banning, which has now been confirmed in these files,” Turley told the New York Post.
