Technology

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gives himself a ‘C’ in ‘tech responsibility’

Published

6 years ago

February 12, 2019

Rachel Kraus

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By Rachel Kraus2019-02-12 23:01:52 UTC

Ah, the passing “C.” Also known as the white man’s “A.”

In a live interview conducted on Twitter, ReCode’s Kara Swisher pressed Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about what grade Dorsey would give his company and himself at fulfilling “tech responsibility.”

Dorsey replied with the oh-so-humble C. In other words, he knows he could do better, but he’s really trying, guys! So he totally deserves to keep his job.

Myself? C. We’ve made progress, but it has been scattered and not felt enough. Changing the experience hasn’t been meaningful enough. And we’ve put most of the burden on the victims of abuse (that’s a huge fail). #Karajack

— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019

Swisher continued to press Jack for more details, insisting on specifics, which Dorsey ducked and weaved like the Twitter C-student he is, though he eventually addressed Swisher’s bullet points.

This is exactly the balance we have to think deeply about. But in doing so, we have to look at how the product works. And where abuse happens the most: replies, mentions, search, and trends. Those are the shared spaces people take advantage of #karajack

— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019

We heard more of the same about conversational health (initiatives to decrease trolling and toxic speech that are actually working), and other policy adjustments.

1. WHICH?
2. HOW?
3. OK, MUTE BUT THAT WAS A WHILE AGO
4. WHAT MORE?
I think people are dying for specifics. #karajack

— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) February 12, 2019

1. Misgendering policy as example.
2. Using ML to downrank bad actors behind interstitials
3. Not too long ago, but most of our work going forward will have to be product features.
4. Not sure the question. We put an entire model in place to minimize gaming of system. #Karajack

— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019

Still, Swisher was not having it.

I grade you all an F on this and that’s being kind. I’m not trying to be a jackass, but it’s been a very slow roll by all of you in tech to pay attention to this. Why do you think that is? I think it is because many of the people who made Twitter never ever felt unsafe. #karajack

— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) February 12, 2019

If Jack wants to bump up his grade, he’ll have to do more in the arena of “tech responsibility.” But why put in the extra effort you need for an A when you can get by perfectly well on a C? Maybe they call it CEO for a reason.

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