For a long time now, Twitter has been accused of having in place lax regulation policies that empower users and allow them to initiate unpleasant exchanges. However, this time around, it was the former CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo, who used the social media behemoth’s inadequacies to post comments supporting violence on its platform.
Responding to a conversation regarding whether the tech company elites and business leaders should involve themselves in social justice issues, Costolo made a contentious remark saying some capitalists “are going to be the first” to be “shot in the revolution”.
“Me-first capitalists who think you can separate society from business are going to be the first people lined up against the wall and shot in the revolution. I’ll happily provide video commentary,” Costolo tweeted.
https://twitter.com/dickc/status/1311472075903647750?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwCostolo’s tweet, suggesting that he would like some of his peers and colleagues face a firing squad comes amidst the turmoil in the American society in the wake of the coronavirus-induced recession, racial reckoning sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody this May.
CEOs and business leaders are caught in a quandary as to what role they should play in the movement, with their apathy towards participating in the revolution engendering a sense of disgruntlement among their employees.
The debate about the American business leaders partaking a greater role in the social upheaval was doing the rounds for some time now. However, it was triggered anew after the Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted in a blog that his company would not take part in the social justice movement roiling the United States. He asserted that the company doesn’t engage in issues which do not lie at the core of their mission and cited the internal rife within organisations such as Facebook and Google to allege that it adversely impacts the productivity of the organisation as a whole.
Twitter does not initiate any action against Former CEO despite his tweet violating company policies
In response to Armstrong’s post, the former Twitter CEO castigated the Coinbase CEO, saying that it is akin to asking the employees to “shut up and dribble”. In the ensuing conversation, Costolo was seen making a case for leaders to engage in upholding social contract with the employees and not just economic relationship. However, when one of the Twitter users responded that those seeking an activist role in a tech company might as well join a non-profit organisation, Costolo replied that he sees Business leaders being lined up against the wall and fired at for not participating in an effort directed at bringing about the social change.
While Twitter has of late shown an unusual alacrity to label tweets or remove them altogether citing violation of the company policies. Twitter’s violent threats policy reads that tweets “threatening to kill someone” and “threatening to seriously hurt someone and/or commit another [sic] violent” act that could result in injury are not permitted on the site. However, the company has so far not initiated any action against Costolo’s tweet.