Tech

Twitter shares fall after Dorsey discusses harassment, Nazis and white nationalists on the site

Key Points
  • Twitter shares fall more than 4 percent after CEO Jack Dorsey's interviews with Rolling Stone and The Bill Simmons Podcast are published Wednesday.
  • Dorsey discusses abuse and harassment as well as his controversial trip to Myanmar in the interviews.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey addresses students during a town hall at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India, November 12, 2018.
Anushree Fadnavis | Reuters

Twitter's share price fell as much as 4 percent on Wednesday after a pair of interviews with CEO Jack Dorsey were published online.

Dorsey held interviews with Rolling Stone and went on The Bill Simmons Podcast to chat about the state of the company and its various issues.

Asked by Simmons when the company will finally fix its harassment problems, Dorsey said, "I don't think there's going to be one single fix. I think it's going to be a constant evolution."

"I will say that we don't feel great about the state that we're in," Dorsey said. "Our entire harassment and abuse framework is dependent upon people reporting harassment and abuse, and it's completely unfair that the victim of the abuse and harassment has to report it themselves."

Speaking with Rolling Stone, Dorsey addressed the Nazis and white nationalists on the service and why Twitter isn't more proactive about removing users who align with violent extremist groups.

"A lot of the calls for 'remove the Nazis' are also due to the fact our enforcement operates on reporting," Dorsey said. "A lot of people don't report. They see things, but it's easier to tweet out 'get rid of the Nazis' than to report it."

Dorsey also spoke about a trip he took to Myanmar that he tweeted about in December. Twitter users accused Dorsey of being tone deaf in his tweets, which come amid violence against the Rohingyas, an ethnic minority group in Myanmar. The violence has been fueled by online hate, primarily on Facebook.

"The surprising thing I learned in Myanmar, number one, was that the internet is Facebook there. Twitter is very small, if anything," Dorsey told Rolling Stone. "But I went there specifically for my meditation. I do intend to go back next year, and the following year."

Dorsey also talked about how he manages his time running both Twitter and Square while also maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

"Every hour I spend is really meaningful. So, like, spending an hour here means I'm not doing something else, and is that trade-off worth it?" Dorsey told Rolling Stone. "I need to consider that every single day. And so I end up not watching a lot of TV. But when I wanna get away, I do."

The interviews come after a quiet yet productive 2018 for Twitter that saw the company's share price rise more than 17 percent. The company is set to release its latest quarterly results on Feb. 7.

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