Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is still trying to convince conservatives that his service treats them fairly. Speaking to CNN's Brian Stelter in an interview that aired Saturday, Twitter's top executive again reiterated that the social media company does not make content decisions on the basis of political views, even though Twitter itself has a "more left-leaning" bias. "But the real question behind the question is, are we doing something according to political ideology or viewpoints? And we are not. Period," Dorsey said in response to a question about "shadow bans," Twitter's practice of using algorithms to limit the visibility of certain tweets. "We do not look at content with regards to political viewpoints or ideology, we look at behavior." "We need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is... more left-leaning," Dorsey added. "But we need to remove all bias from how we act and our policies and our enforcement." "We do not look at content with regards to political viewpoint or ideology," @Jack told me. But he knows some people do not believe him. "I think we need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is left, is more left-leaning," he says... pic.twitter.com/1i8jJunhfz — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 18, 2018 The interview highlights just how thorny these questions have become for Twitter. Dorsey is in the midst of a media blitz, which has included interviews with Sean Hannity and other Fox News hosts. He has also reportedly held quiet meetings with conservative leaders, like Ted Cruz. Each time, the CEO faces questions about Twitter's treatment of conservatives, as well as the network's alleged "shadow bans." What Dorsey and Twitter say is a necessary step to limit the visibility of toxic behavior has become a sort of rallying cry for members of the far-right, who believe the social media company is censoring conservatives with whom it disagrees. Dorsey's latest comments appeared to add fuel to those theories, as many Twitter users latched onto his comments about Twitter's "left-leaning bias" as proof there is in fact a widespread effort to censor conservatives. The Glenn Beck-backed conservative site The Blaze quickly labeled it a "stunning admission," while Twitter users, some of whom have been adding the ❌ emoji to their Twitter names in order to indicate their supposed shadow ban status, quickly piled on. But Dorsey said it was necessary to reckon with the company's own bias in order to improve transparency with users. "I haven't done enough of articulating my own personal objectives with the service," he said. "I think people see a faceless corporation that has... they don't assume that humans are in it. They just assume based on what the output is. That's on us, that's on me."<doc-sep>"We need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias", he said. (File) Faced with criticisms from President Donald Trump that Twitter is "shadow banning" and silencing conservative voices, chief executive Jack Dorsey admitted that those who work for the social media giant have their own biases - and that they're "more left-leaning." Dorsey, however, said in his interview with CNN on Saturday that political ideology does not influence how Twitter determines what is and is not appropriate behavior on the platform. "The real question behind the question is, 'Are we doing something according to political ideology or view points?' And we are not. Period," Dorsey said. "We do not look at content with regards to political viewpoint or ideology. We look at behavior." "We need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is more left-leaning," he added. "And I think it's important to articulate our own bias and to share it with people so that people understand us. But we need to remove our bias from how we act and our policies and our enforcement." Dorsey's comments come amid a debate over how tech companies influence public discourse. Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify have taken aggressive steps against right-wing talk show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for violating their hate speech policies. Spotify, Facebook and YouTube removed Jones from their platforms, and Apple followed suit by removing the majority of podcasts published by Jones' website, Infowars, from iTunes and its podcast apps. Twitter also suspended Jones' account for a week after he urged his supporters to get their "battle rifles" ready against antifascists and the mainstream media. Jones made the comments on his show, which was published on Periscope, Twitter's video-streaming service. Twitter said Jones' comments violated the company's rules about violent threats. In an interview with The Washington Post last week, Dorsey said he is rethinking core parts of Twitter to curb the spread of hate speech, harassment and false news. He also told The Post that he's experimenting with new features that would allow people to see alternative viewpoints and reduce "echo chambers." The president has loudly protested what he sees as bias against conservative voices, tweeting Saturday that social media companies are "totally discriminating" against Republicans. "Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen," Trump wrote from his private resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, vowing that his administration "won't let that happen." The president also floated the idea of "weeding out Fake News," naming CNN and MSNBC, but he said he's not asking that their "sick behavior be removed." Last month, Trump said that Twitter is "SHADOW BANNING" prominent Republicans. "Not good," the president tweeted. "We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints." Dorsey described shadow banning as not amplifying certain messages, or hiding a tweet from users. He also said that people like him should be more open about their personal views and objectives. "I think people see a faceless corporation . . . They don't assume that humans are in it, or that they're genuine or authentic," he told CNN. "They just assume based on what the output is. And that's on us. That's on me." Earlier this month, Dorsey called on journalists to "document, validate, and refute" unsubstantiated rumors that spread on Twitter. Some journalists took issue with the tweet and said it's not their job to police false information on Twitter. "I am not getting paid to clean up your website for you," Los Angeles Times national correspondent Matt Pearce said.<doc-sep>“We need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is more left-leaning,” he added. “And I think it’s important to articulate our own bias and to share it with people so that people understand us. But we need to remove our bias from how we act and our policies and our enforcement.”<doc-sep>
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Saturday addressed the controversy around shadow-banning and combating conspiracy theories on the platform by admitting the company’s left-leaning bias. Speaking to CNN’s Brian Stelter, Dorsey said the company does not regulate user content based on viewpoints, despite criticism from President Donald Trump and others. Dorsey did admit the company views things from the left, and he wants to address bias on the site with that in mind. "We need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is left, is more left-leaning," he said. "I think it's important to articulate our bias and to share it with people so that people understand us, but we need to remove all bias from how we act and our policies and our enforcement." A recent controversy over shadow-banning, which is the practice of systematically reducing the visibility of certain users’ posts, has dogged Twitter while Dorsey has tried to convince conservatives the site's policies are not biased. Twitter has denied allegations of shadow-banning according to the company's definition of the term: "deliberately making someone’s content undiscoverable to everyone except the person who posted it, unbeknownst to the original poster." Dorsey described the practice in much the same way Saturday and again said Twitter does not do it. Shadow-banning is "if someone puts out a tweet, hiding that tweet from everyone without that person who tweeted it knowing about it," Dorsey said. "But the real question behind the question is, are we doing something according to political ideology or viewpoints? And we are not, period. We do not look at content with regards to political viewpoint or ideology." In addition, the site has taken criticism from multiple fronts for declining to kick off far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his site InfoWars but then suspending him. Dorsey said Jones was suspended not for his political views but for inciting violence. "We were getting a number of reports around the tweet and the Periscope that the content was inciting violence, which is against our terms of service, and we took action," Dorsey said. Unlike on Twitter, Jones’ content was removed from Facebook, Apple, and YouTube earlier this month.