Following the controversy emanating from Twitter’s decision to permanently ban outgoing US president, Donald Trump, the social media founder and CEO Jack Dorsey made a thread on Wednesday, defending the decision.

Jack said the ban was the right decision as it points to the failure of Twitter to promote healthy conversation.

Social media platforms have been at the receiving end of criticism over their failure to curb hate and misinformation. Other social media platforms like have followed the step of Twitter by removing Trump and his supporters’ accounts as they promote views capable of stirring violence just as it was witnessed last week in the US Capitol.

Twitter stock took a dive following the decision to ban Trump, but Jack said allowing Trump-like actions set a dangerous precedent, and it’s time “to reflect on our operations and the environment around us.”

Admitting the enormous power social media platforms wield, he touted bitcoin as a model for free internet that everyone deserves.

“I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here. After a clear warning we’d take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter. Was this correct?

“I believe this was the right decision for Twitter. We faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety. Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all.

“That said, having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications. While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation. And a time for us to reflect on our operations and the environment around us.

“Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.

“The check and accountability on this power has always been the fact that a service like Twitter is one small part of the larger public conversation happening across the internet. If folks do not agree with our rules and enforcement, they can simply go to another internet service.

“This concept was challenged last week when a number of foundational internet tool providers also decided not to host what they found dangerous. I do not believe this was coordinated. More likely: companies came to their own conclusions or were emboldened by the actions of others.

“This moment in time might call for this dynamic, but over the long term it will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet. A company making a business decision to moderate itself is different from a government removing access, yet can feel much the same.

“Yes, we all need to look critically at inconsistencies of our policy and enforcement. Yes, we need to look at how our service might incentivize distraction and harm. Yes, we need more transparency in our moderation operations. All this can’t erode a free and open global internet.

“The reason I have so much passion for #Bitcoin is largely because of the model it demonstrates: a foundational internet technology that is not controlled or influenced by any single individual or entity. This is what the internet wants to be, and over time, more of it will be.

“We are trying to do our part by funding an initiative around an open decentralized standard for social media. Our goal is to be a client of that standard for the public conversation layer of the internet. We call it @bluesky.

“This will take time to build. We are in the process of interviewing and hiring folks, looking at both starting a standard from scratch or contributing to something that already exists. No matter the ultimate direction, we will do this work completely through public transparency.

“It’s important that we acknowledge this is a time of great uncertainty and struggle for so many around the world. Our goal in this moment is to disarm as much as we can, and ensure we are all building towards a greater common understanding, and a more peaceful existence on earth.

“I believe the internet and global public conversation is our best and most relevant method of achieving this. I also recognize it does not feel that way today. Everything we learn in this moment will better our effort, and push us to be what we are: one humanity working together.”

President Donald Trump has become the first U.S. president to be impeached twice, following a bipartisan condemnation of the insurrection he orchestrated at the U.S. Capitol against Congress last week Wednesday.

In a swift move that was backed by both Democrats and Republicans, the House voted 232 to 197 to impeach Trump after attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment failed. Ten Republicans including House’s No.3 Republican, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, voted with Democrats to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection”, making it the second time in barely one year the House was voting for Trump’s impeachment.

Calls to oust Trump from office have increased since last week even from among his loyalists. Vice President Mike Pence, who defied Trump to preside over the certification of president-elect, Joe Biden’s electoral votes, was urged to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the President from office, declaring him unfit to serve and a danger to American democracy. Pence’s refusal to act has prompted the House to introduce an article of impeachment on Tuesday.

“We know that the president of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the House floor before the vote. “He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.”

For weeks, Trump was exhorting and inciting his supporters to believe falsely that victory in the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him and that constitutionally required Joint Meeting of Congress for the purpose of counting the votes of elector and announcement of the result by the president of the Senate was illegitimate and intended to complete the theft of his victory.

He also failed to take action to protect and defend Federal officers and personnel, property, buildings, and institutions were besieged by his supporters on January 6, resulting in extensive damage to the property of the United States and the deaths of more than four persons.

The event of last week Wednesday has stirred unprecedented bipartisanship between the Democrats and Republicans who have united in condemning Trump for inciting the insurrection which has undermined American democracy.

“There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” said Cheney.

The swift response of members of the House underscores a shift in Trump-leaning sentiment. In December 2019, only two Republicans voted to impeach Trump and the GOP-controlled Senate trial was preemptive due to the overwhelming support he had from the Republican Party.

Trump did not take responsibility for the insurrection and said what he told his supporters is “ totally appropriate”, calling the impeachment move “ridiculous.” He said the impeachment push is “causing tremendous anger” across the United States and “it’s the continuation of the Greatest Witch Hunt in the history of politics.”

The bipartisan approach to the impeachment also underlines the need for Congress to send a deterrence message for future occupants of the Oval Office, that there would be consequences for bad behavior.

In the Senate, the trial will have to wait as Majority Leader McConnell is not planning to bring the Senate back for a trial before January 19. McConnell who indicated his support for impeachment as he believes impeaching Trump will make it easier to get rid of him in the Republican Party, told his GOP colleagues he will need more time.

“I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate,” he said. McConnell, who parted ways with Trump weeks ago and vowed never to speak with him again, said investigation is still ongoing and will help to shape the votes in the Senate.

Trump’s action is believed to be the reason why the Republicans lost Georgia’s senatorial seats which has given the Democrats control of the Congress, and many Republicans don’t want further damage.

The Impeachment Article involves the 14th Amendment which prohibits any person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States from holding any office. It is not clear if the Senate will consider banning Trump from holding public office ever again. That will mean that Trump’s hope of contesting the presidential election in 2024 will be dashed.