Project Veritas posted the footage Jan. 14, showing Dorsey calling for more action against Trump and his supporters on Twitter. He remarked: "The focus is certainly on [Trump's] account and how it ties to real-world violence." Dorsey added that the social media platform needs to "think much longer term around how these dynamics play out over time."
The Twitter CEO mentioned that political tensions are high in the U.S., with people "extremely divided" over political beliefs. "Our platform is showing that every single day," he added.
Dorsey pointed out that Trump being banned from Twitter is just the first step of this censorship roadmap. He explained: "We are focused on one account [that of Trump] right now, but this is going to be much bigger than just one account. It's going to go on for much longer than just one day, this week, the next few weeks – and go on."
He noted that Twitter had already set its sights on QAnon, another right-wing movement with a presence on the platform. "The moves that we're making today around QAnon, for instance, [is] one such example of a much broader approach that we should be looking at and going deeper on," Dorsey said.
The footage of Dorsey outlining the censorship roadmap followed Twitter's permanent suspension of Trump. In a Jan. 8 blog post, the social media site said it suspended the president's account "due to the risk of further incitement of violence." Trump's suspension came in light of the Jan. 6 siege at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. which left five dead. The blog post explained that two of Trump's tweets went against the platform's policy regarding glorification of violence.
There have been growing calls to curtail Twitter's growing censorship powers
Twitter's ban on Trump was the first instance of the social media platform banning a head of state. A number of world leaders and foreign figures reacted to the ban, expressing concern over Twitter's growing censorship power.
A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she considered the ban on Trump's account "problematic." Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny called it "unacceptable," noting that the decision was based on "emotions" and "personal political preferences." French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire commented: "What shocks me is that Twitter is the one to close his account. The regulation of the digital world cannot be done by the digital oligarchy."
A number of politicians have openly criticized Twitter, foremost among them Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). In October 2020, he called Big Tech censorship "the greatest threat to free speech and democracy." The lawmaker made the statements during an interview with Breitbart News Daily host Alex Marlow. According to Cruz, "a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires" have obtained unprecedented power over public discourse. These same billionaires are "shamelessly silencing and censoring conservatives" using the power they amassed, he continued.
The Texas senator remarked that the Trump administration and the Department of Justice must use "enforcement [and] prosecution actions" to preserve First Amendment protections. (Related: Ted Cruz: Tech censorship is today's greatest threat to free speech and democracy.)
Later, Cruz slammed Twitter for its censorship of the New York Post after the paper exposed questionable emails from Hunter Biden. The lawmaker accused the Twitter CEO of hypocrisy in a strongly worded letter. It said: "Twitter's censorship of this story is quite hypocritical, given its willingness to allow users to share less-well-sourced reporting critical of other candidates for public office."
Cruz posited that Twitter's censorship of the Post was "an obvious and transparent attempt" to influence the November 2020 general elections. (Related: WATCH: Ted Cruz eviscerates Jack Dorsey over whether Twitter is a "publisher".)
The senator wrote in his letter that Twitter is aware of its power to influence public dialogue, and it used its power to prevent the American people from seeing the Post's story. Without the social media platform's pre-emptive censorship, voters finding out the story could significantly influence their views of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
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