Twitter isn’t swayed by political biases when making critical decisions, according to prepared remarks from CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday, one day before he’s set to testify in front of Congress.
“Let me be clear about one important and foundational fact: Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules,” Dorsey said.
His remarks were posted by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Tuesday. Dorsey will address the committee, as well as the Senate alongside Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, on Wednesday. He’s expected to weigh in on recent claims Twitter that shadow-bans prominent conservative voices and is driven by left-leaning ideals.
“We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to enforce our rules impartially. We do not shadowban anyone based on political ideology,” Dorsey continued. “In fact, from a simple business perspective and to serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivized to keep all voices on the platform.”
At the same time, Twitter has drawn criticism from the left for its decision last month to not ban conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from its platform — something many of its Silicon Valley neighbors, including Apple and Facebook, did do. The decision has put Twitter and its chief exec in the cross-hairs of many liberals that believe Jones shouldn’t be allowed to broadcast his views — which include claiming that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a “hoax” — on the platform.
Dorsey will also address the company’s preparation for the 2018 U.S. midterms, after Russian trolls leveraged the platform, and more prominently, Facebook, during the 2016 presidential election. He’s set to tell Congress that Twitter has banned 3,843 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-tied misinformation factory, for spreading misinformation.