There's a lot of conversation around the #TwitterFiles. Here's my take, and thoughts on how to fix the issues identified. I'II start with the principles I've come to believe based on everything l've learned and experienced through my past actions as a Twitter co-founder and lead:
1. Social media must be resilient to corporate and government control. 2. Only the original author may remove content they produce. 3. Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.
Nov 24, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
We need a new mobile OS that’s web-only.
this is great (and great 3 priorities: #AppleBrowserBan, deep system integration, web app equality): open-web-advocacy.org
Jun 9, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Mr @sc and I are funding The #Bitcoin Academy, a program for residents of Marcy Houses in Brooklyn New York where Jay grew up, designed in collaboration with @CryptoPlug3 and @BlkBTCBillions: thebitcoinacademy.com
bitcoin is becoming a critical tool for many in Africa and Central and South America. We believe the same potential exists within communities in the US. Our goal is to prove that making powerful tools more available to people enables them to build greater independence.
Apr 29, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I have tried taking a break from Twitter recently, but I must say: the company has always tried to do its best given the information it had. Every decision we made was ultimately my responsibility*. In the cases we were wrong or went too far, we admitted it and worked to correct.
Some things can be fixed immediately, and others require rethinking and reimplementing the entire system. It is important to me that we get critical feedback in all of its forms, but also important that we get the space and time to address it. All of that should be done publicly.
Apr 26, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
tidal.com/browse/track/5…
I love Twitter. Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.
Oct 15, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Square is considering building a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals and businesses worldwide. If we do this, we’d follow our hardware wallet model: build in the open in collaboration with the community. First some thoughts and questions.
1/Mining needs to be more distributed. The core job of a miner is to securely settle transactions without the need for trusted 3rd parties. This is critical well after the last bitcoin is mined. The more decentralized this is, the more resilient the Bitcoin network becomes. True?
May we offer a workable simplification?
Forcing reporting rules on Americans who develop software and hardware, who mine and secure the network, or who run nodes to build resilience and efficiencies, is an impossible ask that will only drive development and operation of this critical technology outside the US.
Jul 15, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Square is creating a new business (joining Seller, Cash App, & Tidal) focused on building an open developer platform with the sole goal of making it easy to create non-custodial, permissionless, and decentralized financial services. Our primary focus is #Bitcoin. Its name is TBD.
Like our new #Bitcoin hardware wallet, we’re going to do this completely in the open. Open roadmap, open development, and open source. @brockm is leading and building this team, and we have some ideas around the initial platform primitives we want to build.
Jun 4, 2021 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Square is considering making a hardware wallet for #bitcoin. If we do it, we would build it entirely in the open, from software to hardware design, and in collaboration with the community. We want to kick off this thinking the right way: by sharing some of our guiding principles.
1/Bitcoin is for everyone. It’s important to us to build an inclusive product that brings a non-custodial solution to the global market. Much respect to everyone who has gotten us this far. What are the biggest blockers to get a non-custodial solution to the next 100M people?
Mar 25, 2021 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
Thank you Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee and its Subcommittees, for the opportunity to speak with the American people about how Twitter may be used to spread disinformation, and our solutions. My remarks will be brief so we can move to your questions and discussion.
In our discussion today, some of you might bring up specific tweets or examples and I’ll probably have an answer like “my team will follow up with you.” I don’t think that is useful. I’d rather us focus on principles and approaches to address these problems. I’ll start with ours.
Mar 4, 2021 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Square is acquiring a majority ownership stake in TIDAL through a new joint venture, with the original artists becoming the second largest group of shareholders, and JAY-Z joining the Square board. Why would a music streaming company and a financial services company join forces?!
It comes down to a simple idea: finding new ways for artists to support their work. New ideas are found at the intersections, and we believe there’s a compelling one between music and the economy. Making the economy work for artists is similar to what Square has done for sellers.
Jan 14, 2021 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here. After a clear warning we’d take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter. Was this correct?
I believe this was the right decision for Twitter. We faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety. Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all.
Nov 17, 2020 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Thank you members of the Judiciary Committee for the opportunity to speak with the American people about Twitter and your concerns around censorship and suppression of a specific news article, and generally what we saw in the 2020 US Elections conversation.
We were called here today because of an enforcement decision we made against the @NYPost, based on a policy we created in 2018 to prevent Twitter from being used to spread hacked materials. This resulted in us blocking people from sharing a @NYPost article, publicly or privately.
Oct 28, 2020 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Thank you members of the Commerce Committee for the opportunity to speak with the American people about Twitter and §230. My remarks will be brief to get to questions. §230 is the most important law protecting internet speech. Removing §230 will remove speech from the internet.
§230 gave internet services two important tools. The first provides immunity from liability for user’s content. The second provides “Good Samaritan” protections for content moderation and removal, even of constitutionally protected speech, as long as it’s done “in good faith.”
Jul 30, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
The most incredible aspect of the internet is that no one person or organization controls it: the people make it what it is every day. That ideal is constantly under threat, especially today. We commit as a company to fighting for an #OpenInternet.
The power of the internet is only as good as the power it gives to individual people. The more we do to advance that, the stronger it becomes. This underlies all else. But there are two emergent and growing threats.
Jun 18, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
More #startsmall grants. We’ve now granted over $146m.
Working on getting help to be more proactive and have a general intake form that doesn’t lean on my network or established orgs that have already done the work.
$3mm to Colin @Kaepernick7’s @yourrightscamp to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization to elevate the next generation of change leaders. knowyourrightscamp.com
$1m to @DigDeepH2O to connect remote indigenous homes to hot and cold running water so that tribal members, especially the elderly and the at-risk, can stay home and stay safe, and to make Navajo Nation more resilient to ongoing and future outbreaks. navajowaterproject.org
May 15, 2020 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
#startsmall is up to $87.8M in disbursements. Most are in the tracking sheet, some in process for next week. Interested in helping? All these are incredible and impactful orgs...find one that resonates with you. And now a thread on 6 new grants... docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
$10m to @Project100 to give $1000 directly to American families in the SNAP program. givedirectly.org/covid-19/us/
Apr 9, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Grateful for @rihanna@ClaraLionelFdn and @MayorsFundLA: 10 weeks of shelter, meals, and counseling for individuals and their children in LA suffering from domestic violence as a result of the COVID-19 Safer at Home Order.
The LA Housing Authority determined ~90 people/week (and their children) have been turned away from domestic violence shelters since issuing the Order. This grant will cover needs for 90 victims per week, with an additional 90 victims every week thereafter for 10 weeks.
Apr 7, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I’m moving $1B of my Square equity (~28% of my wealth) to #startsmall LLC to fund global COVID-19 relief. After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI. It will operate transparently, all flows tracked here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
Why UBI and girl’s health and education? I believe they represent the best long-term solutions to the existential problems facing the world. UBI is a great idea needing experimentation. Girl’s health and education is critical to balance: drawdown.org/solutions/heal…
