Twitter (now rebranded as X) co-founder Jack Dorsey has acknowledged that the platform’s business model was the root cause of its censorship issues.
What Happened: In an interview with journalist Mike Solana that was published on Thursday, Dorsey was asked that despite his efforts with Bluesky, Nostr, and the public statements, many people still perceive him as the “face of censorship” at Twitter 1.0.
In response, Dorsey admitted that the advertising-based business model was the “core, critical sin” that led to the censorship problems on Twitter. “I think the core, critical sin was choosing the advertising model to begin with,” he stated.
Dorsey went on to say brand advertising differs from direct advertisement, as it relies less on programmatic approaches. Instead, it often necessitates a significant endorsement from influential entities like Disney, as they prioritize partnerships with major players such as Google and Facebook. “Snapchat, Twitter, everything else did not matter.”
“And these are ads that are essentially throwaway for them. But we made that choice in order to go public,” he added.
The Twitter co-founder also mentioned that the company’s dependency on advertising led to a decline in growth and ad revenue, which in turn made them vulnerable to the demands of major advertisers like P&G and Unilever.
“And when you’re entirely dependent on that, if a brand like P&G or Unilever doesn’t like what’s happening on the platform, and they threaten to pull the budget, which accounts for like 20% of your revenue? You have no choice, and… you have no choice,” he said.
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Why It Matters: This is not the first time Dorsey has publicly addressed the challenges of running Twitter. Last year, he acknowledged the difficulties of managing the platform, saying, “Running Twitter is hard. I don’t wish that stress upon anyone.”
Dorsey has faced criticism from both users and lawmakers. In a congressional hearing in 2020, he defended Twitter’s decision to limit the spread of a controversial New York Post article, stating, “Our team made a fast decision,” adding, “The enforcement action, however, of blocking URLs both in tweets and in DMs, in direct messages, we believe was incorrect.”
Meanwhile, during the interview, Dorsey also revealed the motivations behind his departure from Bluesky, the decentralized social media platform he co-founded as an alternative to Twitter. He said Bluesky was “literally repeating all the mistakes [Twitter] made as a company.”
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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