Jack Dorsey’s TED Interview and the End of an Era | New Yorker

From a timely Twitter reality check

"It all seemed so inevitable: that Jack Dorsey, the C.E.O. and co-founder of Twitter, would appear onstage at last week’s ted ideas conference, in Vancouver; that the conference theme would be “Bigger Than Us,” an ambiguous invocation of either inspiration or fear; that Dorsey, during a session called “Power,” would calmly acknowledge the proliferation of coördinated harassment campaigns, conspiracy theories, and politically motivated misinformation on his company’s platform; that he would speak at length and say nothing new. Dorsey has been on a months-long, semi-apologetic publicity tour. He has met with tech journalists, to promote his company’s shift in focus from growth to “conversation health” (an initiative that has yet to result in concrete changes), and with conservative commentators, to discuss anti-conservative platform bias (the existence of which has not been proved). Throughout, he has taught a sustained master class in conversational redirection and opacity. Dressed in what has recently become a signature monochrome—wrinkled black hoodie, tight black beanie, black Rick Owens “sock sneakers”—Dorsey looked wraithlike against the colorful set at ted, an Edward Gorey character who had lost his way. His beard was long, bushy, eremitic. A small metallic hoop glinted from his left nostril."

Jack Dorsey’s TED Interview and the End of an Era | New Yorker