Yesterday, Twitter published a five paragraph answer to the loudly, repeatedly-shouted question: “Why won’t you ban Donald Trump, a man who has actively used your platform to threaten nuclear annihilation against an entire country?” Here it is in its entirety.
Photo: Getty
There’s been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance.
Oh god please don’t make us talk about this shit again.
Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation.
We really, really don’t know what we’re doing.
Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society.
We’re beholden to Donald Trump and we’re not at all comfortable with it.
Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate.
This whole place is toxic. You know it. We know it. It’s too late to fix anything.
It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.
Did you forget, we’re part of the #resistance?
We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly.
Please forget our total inability to universally apply our rules to anyone, ever.
No one person’s account drives Twitter’s growth, or influences these decisions.
Except world leaders.
We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind.
It would be so cool if we could make money off this someday.
We are working to make Twitter the best place to see and freely discuss everything that matters.
If you told us five years ago we’d basically be a petri dish to grow evidence for a special council we would never have built this stupid thing.
We believe that’s the best way to help our society make progress.
There’s no way out. Please stop asking.