Jack Dorsey Proposes to Create Social Media with Free and Open Protocols

Jack Dorsey (center) proposed a new social media. (photo: Twitter @jack)

JAKARTA - An internal investigation on Twitter led by Elon Musk to identify problems related to censorship on Twitter, led the social platform's former CEO, Jack Dorsey,  to promote the idea of a "free and open protocol" for social media.

In a post, Dorsey highlights some of the potential solutions to Twitter's current platform issues. According to the former CEO of Twitter, this will make the platform immune from corporate or government control. It even grants the right to remove content only to the original author and enforces moderation through algorithmic choices.

“I strongly believe that any content that someone produces for the internet should be permanent until the original author chooses to remove it. It must always be available and addressable. Removal and suspension of content should not be possible", said Dorsey, as quoted by Cointelegraph.

Dorsey believes that the Twitter platform under his leadership and the current Twitter does not live up to the three principles he listed and blames himself for not championing the platform.

“It was my own fault because I completely gave up pushing for them when an activist entered our stock in 2020. I planned my exit at the time knowing that I was no longer a good fit for the company.”

Dorsey also noted that the biggest mistake was focusing on building tools to manage public conversations instead of creating ones that would allow Twitter users to manage them themselves. "This burdens the company with too much power," he added. According to him, this makes the company was also exposed to pressure from outside.

In a tweet, Dorsey also shared a GitHub link to an open, censorship-resistant protocol currently under construction. The project dubbed "Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted" aims to enable the creation of decentralized social networks based on cryptographic keys and signatures.

On October 18, Dorsey also announced new developments regarding Bluesky Social, a decentralized social media project that started in 2019. With the platform, no company will be able to decide what to publish. Instead, there will be a market of companies deciding what to "bring to their audience".