On Tuesday morning, actor Seth Rogen revealed he’s been having a private conversation with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about the platform’s continued verification of white supremacists. After a few months of exchanges, Rogen says what was already abundantly clear to anyone who’s taken even a slightly close look at Twitter’s hypocrisy: Jack Dorsey just. doesn’t. care.
The tweet spread quickly—and many were quick to agree with Rogen. Activist campaign Sleeping Giants, which aims to stop companies from placing ads on the racist website Breitbart News, added a bit more context.
Silicon Valley tried to posit itself as a progressive bastion. Sleeping Giants shows that in reality, that is far from the truth. The problem isn’t limited to Twitter. Across the Internet, websites are breaking their own rules to accommodate some of the biggest purveyors of online hate, bigotry, and violence.
Writer Mikki Kendall says she knows about Jack’s apathy from personal experience.
What Jack—and leaders across Silicon Valley—are doing is showing that they will make exceptions to the rules at their will. And it doesn’t matter what someone’s message is: if it brings attention and money, it is welcome on the platform, no matter the human cost.
It’s also important to note that this may not just be about the money: it may also be about ideology.
Conservatives have been having meetings with leaders like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about their fabricated online oppression while people of color, trans folk, women, and other marginalized identities have been complaining about being systemic targeted for a decade. Zuckerberg reportedly has been close to billionaire and secretive free-press opponent Peter Thiel, who funded the lawsuit that eventually ended Gawker Media. Thiel sits on Facebook’s board.
A reporter from The Stranger snuck into a white supremacist convention, where the attendees talked about infiltrating the tech industry—and bringing their friends in once they get a foot in. He had a chilling observation:
According to my observations, the standard Seattle Nazi is a white male under 30 who either works in the tech industry or is going to school to work in the tech industry. “You’re also a coder? Do you mind if I send you something I’ve been working on?” I heard that more than once.
Somehow, white supremacists seem to have a better understanding of the fact that ideology does impact how technology is created. When will clueless white liberals catch up?
While what Rogen said isn’t news for the many marginalized folks who have been enduring the consequences of Jack Dorsey’s inaction, may this shine a light on the continued hypocrisy that enables white supremacists to keep and build platforms on our mainstream social media.