Foiled again! Twitter accidentally suspended the account of its own founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey, on Tuesday, November 22, amid a crackdown on users who express the extreme, racist views of the alt-right. Luckily, the 40-year-old entrepreneur reassured followers that the suspension was a mistake.
“just setting up my twittr … again (account suspension was an internal mistake),” he tweeted Tuesday after users noticed that they couldn’t find his profile and speculated something had gone awry. Dorsey’s message is a nod to his first-ever tweet, “just setting up my twittr,” which he shared upon the creation of the popular social media site on March 21, 2006.
In typical style, Twitter users were quick to react to the news that Dorsey had been booted off Twitter with both humor and criticism.
WAS TWITTER HACKED? MUST HAVE BEEN THE RUSSIANS
— BRANDON LAMAR (@itsBrandonLamar) November 23, 2016
Oh nice synergy there – using your similar 1st ever tweet as your ‘return tweet’
— Rhett Bartlett (@dialmformovies) November 23, 2016
— Ammar Mohammed ? (@ammr) November 23, 2016
https://twitter.com/MyTinehNimjeh/status/801272401514274816
https://twitter.com/NoBigotZone/status/801270766612271104
https://twitter.com/robotterror/status/801282825588617221
On Thursday, November 17, Twitter made headlines when an ad for a neo-Nazi site appeared on the platform, causing the CEO to issue a public apology and blame their automated advertising setup. “We made a mistake here and we apologize,” he wrote at the time. “Our automated system allowed an ad promoting hate. Against our policy. We did a retro and fixed!”
The mishaps come as the social media platform has been cracking down on users who express views that are representative of the conservative, white supremacist movement known as the “alt-right.” Just last week, the social media platform issued new tools that make it easier to report abuse, bullying and harassment in response to the “abusive conduct” that has increased in the wake of the presidential elections.
Most recently, white nationalist leader Richard Spencer, who led audience members in a Nazi-style “Hail Trump” salute during a conference in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, November 19, was one of the outspoken alt-right figures suspended from Twitter.
In response, Spencer posted a video to YouTube in which he said the social media company was cracking down on political speech it doesn’t agree with. “It’s corporate Stalinism, in the sense that there is a great purge going on, and they’re purging people on the basis of their views,” he said.
