Howard Dean: Twitter CEO's Refusal to Ban Alex Jones Is An Endorsement Of 'Nazism,' 'Violence'

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Aug. 08, 2018

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Tuesday on Twitter he's making sure Alex Jones's tweets "aren't artificially amplified" (see: Jones is shadowbanned) but he won't outright ban him because "he hasn't violated our rules."

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

Jones has now been either fully banned or censored by Apple, Google, Facebook, Spotify, MailChimp and Microsoft's LinkedIn, with the majority saying they banned him for his speech, which they call "hate."

Leftists were furious with Dorsey for not outright banning Jones and demanded more censorship.

Former DNC Chair Howard Dean said Jack Dorsey's decision was an endorsement of "Nazism," "hate speech" and "advocacy of violence" on behalf of every employee at Twitter.

"On [sic] other words hate speech, nazism [sic] and advocacy of violence will continue to be aided and abetted by Twitter and by extensionJack [sic] Dorsey and everyone else who works for Twitter," Dean tweeted Wednesday.

On other words hate speech, nazism and advocacy of violence will continue to be aided and abetted by Twitter and by extensionJack Dorsey and everyone else who works for Twitter. https://t.co/3dfHNqEMOL
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) August 8, 2018

Former assistant press secretary for the National Security Council under Obama and former Twitter communications director Emily Horne slammed Dorsey for not censoring Jones:

.@jack, please don’t blame the current state of play on communications. These decisions aren’t easy, but they aren’t comms calls and it’s unhelpful to denigrate your colleagues whose credibility will help explain them 1/4 https://t.co/IKo5UiWiWH
— Emily Horne (@emilyjhorne) August 8, 2018

Also, FWIW I think this is the wrong call. Jones’ behavior isn’t a one-off. Twitter started examining offline behavior as a factor in verification last fall. If your policy doesn’t account for Jones-like activity on/offline then the policy isn’t serving a healthy conversation 2/4
— Emily Horne (@emilyjhorne) August 8, 2018

If I still worked for you I’d have advised you to frame this as a sign that if current Twitter policies permit verified accounts to encourage followers to harass/harm people offline, then the policies aren’t working as intended & Twitter is looking hard at the way forward 3/4
— Emily Horne (@emilyjhorne) August 8, 2018

Designing scalable policy on this is incredibly hard. No company will always get it right. But this is an opportunity to take a stand and commit to making and enforcing hard choices in service of promoting healthy conversation. I hope you revisit this decision. 4/4
— Emily Horne (@emilyjhorne) August 8, 2018

@jack, TY for clarification. I do trust in good intentions of teammates (a Twitter value that I’ve carried on). And TY for engaging here. But my opinion is also rooted in my respect for/understanding of Twitter’s policies/goals, & I still hope you revisit this #lovewhereyouworked
— Emily Horne (@emilyjhorne) August 8, 2018

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