Jack Dorsey

About

Jack Dorsey is an American businessperson, computer programmer and entrepreneur, who is the co-founder and CEO of the social networking and micro-blogging website Twitter.

Online History

In 2006, Jack Dorsey, along with Biz Stone and Noah Glass, launched the Obvious Corporation, which then spun off into Twitter. On March 21st, 2006, Dorsey, under his Twitter^[2] handle @jack, tweeted the first tweet, which read "just setting up my Twttr." As of December 2018, the tweet has received more than 100,000 retweets and 88,000 likes (shown below).

In May 2010, Dorsey and co-founder Jim McKelvey launched Square, a mobile device for credit card payments. Two years later, the company was valued at over $2 billion.^[3]

2019 Meeting President Donald Trump

On April 23d, 2019, Dorsey met with President Donald Trump at the White House. That day, Trump tweeted a picture from their meeting and wrote,^[7] "Great meeting this afternoon at the @WhiteHouse with @Jack from @Twitter. Lots of subjects discussed regarding their platform, and the world of social media in general. Look forward to keeping an open dialogue!" The tweet received more than 17,000 retweets and 65,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Dorsey responded to the tweet,^[8] "Thank you for the time. Twitter is here to serve the entire public conversation, and we intend to make it healthier and more civil. Thanks for the discussion about that." His tweet received more than 1,500 retweets and 8,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

According to reports, much of the meeting was spent discussing the president's personal Twitter account, which Trump believes dropped "59 million followers in anti-Trump, anti-conservative Twitter purges." Dorsey reportedly responded by informing the president that all users "periodically [lose] followers when the site deletes fake or bot accounts. Dorsey even said he himself had lost followers as a result of Twitter’s efforts to delete fake accounts."^[9]

That day, Twitter^[10] released a statement on the meeting between Trump and Dorsey. They wrote:

Jack had a constructive meeting with the President of the United States today at the president's invitation. They discussed commitment to protecting the health of the public conversation ahead of the 2020 U.S. election and efforts underway to respond to the opioid crisis.

Some criticized the meeting. Twitter^[11] user @brianbeutler accused Twitter of attempting to please the president with reports that align with the president's agenda. He wrote, "Here's how Twitter uses its platform a day after Trump summoned @jack to the White House to whine about his follower count. This debunked, fabricated conspiracy theory caused an international incident in 2017, and Larry Johnson is the racist sleaze behind the 'whitey tape' lie." The post received more than 160 retweets and 350 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Twitter^[12] user @4evernevertrump responded to Dorsey's tweet by accusing the president of tweeting propaganda. He wrote in a thread, "Trump literally tweeted out propaganda videos attacking one of the very few Muslims in Congress days after someone was arrested for threatening her life… and you're looking to make this place more civil? And another thing… why the fuck are you thanking him for "keeping an open dialogue"? You're the CEO of a private company; you don't need to have an "open dialogue" with him. Fuck you." The thread received hundreds of retweets and more than 20,000 likes (shown below, center).

Resignation From Twitter

On November 28th, 2021, Dorsey announced his immediate resignation as CEO of Twitter. He shared an email he sent to his staff with the site. The email names Chief Technical Officer Parag Agrawal as the new CEO of the company.

Criticism

Users of Twitter frequently criticize and target Dorsey in regards to the implementations of the harassment policies of Twitter. Most of this is in regards to the perceived lax response to white supremacist and racist communities that exist on Twitter. Many have complained of being banned for responding to harassment, while their harassers remain on the site. As such, people have described and called him both a "Nazi" and an enabler white supremacist groups (examples below).

Additionally, Dorsey has been held responsible for the actions and tweets by United States President Donald Trump, which some people believe threaten the safety of people in the United States and abroad because Trump can launch military initiatives and threaten world leaders on the platform. On December 20th, 2016, the Financial Times^[1] wrote of Dorsey:

"As CEO of the banefully ephemeral squawk mortar, @Jack has the power to avert global war just by suspending one account. That he chooses not to (even though the inaction gives him no strategic benefit and earns his shareholders very little money) makes Twitter perhaps the worst company ever to exist."

In a 2018 profile for Vanity Fair,^[4] Nick Bilton wrote:

"The public pushback to Dorsey’s first silent retreat, in December 2017, was tepid. Some people seemed genuinely supportive, impressed that a chief executive of two public companies could take 10 days off. They wondered if it was enlightening, and how he felt about being away from the company for that period of time. Others complained that the world was burning, and that Dorsey was tuning it all out. “God, tech bros are the worst. Living it up without a care in the world while your platform is being used to threaten nuclear war,” one person responded to Dorsey. 'Please ban the nazis from twitter,' another wrote back. A slew of people pleaded with Dorsey to help the rest of the world experience that inner peace by 'banning the orange guy' for 10 days."

Reputation

Dorsey has been known to be more distant than other tech CEOs. Shortly after launching Twitter, he lost the title of CEO because he frequently left his job to go do yoga.^[5] He has also been said to have a "college-stoner management style."

In 2018, a story emerged online about Dorsey sending his beard clippings to rapper Azealia Banks in exchange for an amulet that would protect him against ISIS. Banks tweeted in 2016, "[Dorsey] also sent me his hair in an envelope because I was supposed to make him an amulet for protection." The tweets have since been deleted.^[6]

Search Interest

External References