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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business

We've not done enough to stop online abuse, admits Twitter boss

Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey took himself back to school on Wednesday, admitting the social media giant had not done enough to quieten the trolls.

He said he’d give himself a ‘C’ grade for taking responsibility for online abuse on the site.

The site’s co-founder said in an interview on Twitter: “We’ve made progress, but it has been scattered and not felt enough. Changing the experience hasn’t been meaningful enough. And we’ve put most of the burden on the victims of abuse (that’s a huge fail).”

Twitter and rival Facebook have been criticised for allowing abusive posts and fake news and users on to the sites. Instagram, meanwhile, last week banned graphic images of self-harm after the site was condemned in the wake of the death of a teenager.

In the mea culpa, Dorsey also said he doesn’t like how Twitter fuels short-termism, outrage and creates echo chambers.

He also said his company lacked diversity.

He also said Tesla founder Elon Musk was the most exciting person on Twitter.

“To me personally? I like how @elonmusk uses Twitter. He’s focused on solving existential problems and sharing his thinking openly. I respect that a lot, and all the ups and downs that come with it”

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