Responding to the “Twitter Files”, Jack Dorsey criticizes attacks on Twitter staff, advocates for an open social media protocol, and commits $1M/year to Signal

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Revue 2022-12-14 Jack Dorsey

Context & Ripple Effects

Dorsey’s defense of Twitter staff arrives against a record of direct involvement in the platform’s content decisions, including intervening in account-policy calls. His response pairs a critique of attacks on employees with an argument that social media should be built on an open protocol rather than controlled through one company.

The protocol position became a sustained funding direction in related coverage: Dorsey later backed open-source projects built on Nostr and ActivityPub. The Signal pledge places support for private communications alongside that broader decentralization agenda.

First-order effects

Signal gains a committed $1 million-per-year donor, while Dorsey publicly associates the service with his preferred alternative to centralized social platforms.
Twitter staff receive a high-profile defense from the company’s former leader, even as Dorsey redirects the policy debate toward open-protocol architecture.

Second-order effects

Open-protocol projects gain a more prominent advocate at a moment when Twitter’s internal content decisions are under scrutiny, sharpening the contrast between centralized moderation and decentralized network design.
Signal’s recurring support gives a privacy-focused communications service a more durable funding relationship than a one-time endorsement, reinforcing its position adjacent to Dorsey’s protocol agenda.

Third-order effects

If prominent platform founders continue pairing criticism of centralized governance with funding for open infrastructure, social-media competition shifts from individual apps toward the protocols and developer ecosystems beneath them.
The debate over content governance may increasingly separate accountability for platform operators from advocacy for systems designed to distribute control across independent services.

The trend: Dorsey’s response is one data point in a shift from defending centralized platform governance toward financing open, interoperable communications infrastructure.

Discussion

@jack @jack on x
1. Social media must be resilient to corporate and government control. 2. Only the original author may remove content they produce. 3. Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.
@jack @jack on x
There's a lot of conversation around the #TwitterFiles. Here's my take, and thoughts on how to fix the issues identified. I'II start with the principles I've come to believe based on everything l've learned and experienced through my past actions as a Twitter co-founder and lead:
@patrickmoorhead Patrick Moorhead on x
Bit ironic given @jack's former position. https://twitter.com/...
@donie Donie O'Sullivan on x
Really worth reading @jack's post from last night. In it he: - Calls for release of more Twitter Files, “Wikileaks style” - “This is my fault alone,” he says of current state of Twitter - Trump Twitter ban was “wrong thing for the internet and society” https://www.getrevue.co/...
@neilcybart Neil Cybart on x
One of the biggest takeaways from the Twitter files was how @jack was an absent CEO. Remember all of those questions dealing with how someone can be CEO of two public companies at the same time? In this case, the answer was just be CEO in name owner. https://twitter.com/...
@mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x
Jack Dorsey on Musk's Twitter files: “mistakes were made”, but Twitter had “no ill intent or hidden agendas, and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time” https://www.theverge.com/...
@parismarx Paris Marx on x
It's wild how long Silicon Valley maintained the meritocracy myth when there are so many objectively stupid men at the top of the industry. https://twitter.com/...
@gidmk @gidmk on x
There is quite convincing scientific evidence that the Twitter algorithm has a strong right-wing/conservative bias Algorithmic moderation is probably *more* biased than other options, not less https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@tylerblack32 Tyler Black on x
All these years and he still hasn't learned important lessons. The algorithm is a poor replacement for human moderation, and a community that protects its vulnerable is strongest. https://twitter.com/...
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
there's been a LOT of anger directed at Jack the past few weeks by people who used to work for him. Elon + reporters who have access to the Twitter Files have repeatedly defended him, saying he was out of the loop on key decisions. I think this needed to be said (ideally sooner)
@alexandrosm Alexandros Marinos on x
I agree with @Jack's vision for the future of social media. I hope Elon somehow can find a way to converge there though I'm concerned it is not his style to build protocols. Regardless, Elon is buying us all some time to build the future. https://www.getrevue.co/...
@ritapanahi Rita Panahi on x
This is NOT what you implemented when you were running Twitter. You empowered little totalitarians to silence & suppress your ideological opponents. https://twitter.com/...
@fyrescotch @fyrescotch on x
“This is my fault alone, when someone else made me not do it.” https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@snowden Edward Snowden on x
Jack is one of the only folks willing to speak a hard truth: a site that answers one censorship demand inevitably finds itself facing millions. It will never be free. Censorship might help your business, but it hurts society. The moderation problem requires a different answer. ht…
@gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x
This could be no accident: it was Jack Dorsey who acquired newsletter derive Revue early 2021. Under Elon's Twitter, Revue will be shut down by the end of 2022, the majority of the Netherlands-based team already fired. Jack starts using Revue 2 weeks before it's shutdown... https…
@nberlat Noah Berlatsky on x
where is the fucking apology, Jack? you handed the site to a fascist shithead and he just doxxed and threatened the life of your former employee. could you pull your head out of your ass for one second? https://twitter.com/...
@lexnfx Alexei Oreskovic on x
Cynic's read of @jack response to Elon twtr files: 1. It's on me/I was CEO, but really blame activist investors 2. If only I had as much control as Zuck none of this would have happened 3. Elon's incitement against my ex colleagues is mean, but I won't directly call him out on it…
@shonaghosh Shona Ghosh on x
Thankfully, Americans don't just get to make speech rules for everyone else. https://twitter.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
This sounds good but if you think for five seconds is utterly insane. We expect the government to force child porn off social media because the state is a moral regulator. That's government control and no one protests. https://twitter.com/...
@bgrueskin Bill Grueskin on x
Appears that @jack (ex-Twitter CEO) isn't especially happy w/ the way the #TwitterFiles got pushed through the Taibbi/Weiss/Etc strainer: “As for the files, I wish they were released Wikileaks-style, with many more eyes and interpretations to consider” https://www.getrevue.co/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Worth a read from ⁦@jack⁩ — a little heavy on the government/corporate bogeyman when the tech leaders also hold even more power, but still thoughtful and, yes, he was responsible: a native internet protocol for social media | Revue https://www.getrevue.co/...
@stevenvoiceover @stevenvoiceover on x
Sorry so you want to give advice on how you'd fix the issues at twitter, using the principles you learned and experienced whilst neglecting to fix the issues at Twitter? https://twitter.com/...
@lorakolodny Lora Kolodny on x
So he's using his regrets to market BlueSky? https://twitter.com/...
@silvermanjacob Jacob Silverman on x
Absolutely. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@mattwelch Matt Welch on x
“I'm a strong believer that any content produced by someone for the internet should be permanent until the original author chooses to delete it. It should be always available and addressable. Content takedowns and suspensions should not be possible.” https://www.getrevue.co/...
@plinz @plinz on x
Jack's list of principles for twitter moderation is spot on. He gave up on it after “an activist entered the stock in 2020”. He believes suspending Trump was bad for democracy and internet, but driven by company business needs. This is probably related why he welcomed the buyout.…
@silvermanjacob Jacob Silverman on x
That pic was taken after Jack learned that MBS had spies operating inside twitter, overseen by @Badermasaker. Twitter leadership tipped off one of the spies and he fled to Saudi Arabia. He now works for MBS' foundation and was just out of frame in the famous Trump orb photo.
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
Interesting read from Jack. A lot of these ideas he's shared before, but there is also this on the Twitter Files: “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.” ht…
@dabit3 Nader on x
Let's be honest, @jack was in charge for years and chose to do none of these things, and you can bet that he'll not support the people and teams out there already years ahead in building something like this, but will instead want to again control it. https://twitter.com/...
@toluogunlesi Tolu Ogunlesi on x
This is really interesting. We've gone from assuming government control/influence was the only one (or main one) that needed to be reined in/concerned about, to acknowledging that corporate control can be - and is often - just as problematic. That's a big deal! https://twitter.co…
@maxkriegervg @maxkriegervg on x
jack dorsey is his own brand of nuts but this is a statement from an actual leader https://twitter.com/...

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