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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey believes that it’s “important” that President Donald Trump continues to tweet.
Why? Because hearing from Trump publicly will help hold him accountable, Dorsey says.
“I believe it's really important to have these conversations out in the open, rather than have them behind closed doors,” he told Willie Geist in a snippet from a longer interview that will air on Sunday TODAY.
Not everyone agrees with Dorsey, of course, which is why Geist asked how he responds to critics who say Twitter is simply giving Trump a platform to bully fellow politicians or to bash the media. Some have argued that Trump’s tweets violate Twitter’s harassment policies.
Dorsey disagrees. He believes that, without Twitter, the kinds of “conversations” that Trump’s tweets inspire would simply disappear from the public eye.
Here is his full answer:
“I believe it's really important to hear directly from our leadership. And I believe it's really important to hold them accountable. And I believe it's really important to have these conversations out in the open, rather than have them behind closed doors. So if we're all to suddenly take these platforms away, where does it go? What happens? It goes in the dark. And I just don't think that's good for anyone.”
The remarks are similar to comments Dorsey made back in December at Recode’s Code Commerce event in San Francisco when he said he had “complicated” feelings about President Donald Trump’s constant tweeting.
“The complicated part,” Dorsey said, “is just what does this mean to have a direct line to how he’s thinking in real time and to see that. ... So we’re definitely entering a new world where everything is on the surface and we can all see it in real time and we can all have conversations about it.”
Dorsey may have another reason to believe Trump’s tweets should stick around — they appear to be helping Twitter’s business.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
