Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was summoned by Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) to tweet during today’s Congressional hearing on disinformation and extremism. The tech executive’s tweet probably expressed frustration with the audience’s format, which again saw technology CEOs forced to summarize their answers to complicated questions into simple “yes” or “no” answers – or be prevented from answering. Cryptically, Dorsey this afternoon tweeted a Twitter poll with just one question: “?” who had only two answers to choose from: a “Yes” or “No”.
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Before Rice entered her questioning line, which focused on the platforms’ ability to radicalize U.S. veterans and members of the military, she asked the Twitter CEO about her tweet.
“Mr. Dorsey, what are you getting – yes or no – on your Twitter account … poll?” Asked Rice, who sat in front of a colorful wallpaper covered in flowers, butterflies, insects and maybe snakes (??), which we agreed to be one of the best web conferencing backgrounds of the time – perhaps even surpassing Dorsey’s decision to zoom in on his kitchen with a blockchain clock cleverly placed behind him. (Because of course it’s a clock blockchain. Of course.)
“Yes,” replied Dorsey simply, in the same monotonous tone he used during the hearing, which tends to give the impression of someone who simply cannot worry about yet another Congress dog and pony show.
“Hmmm,” warned Rice.
“Your multitasking skills are quite impressive, ”she snarled, in a tone that didn’t seem to indicate that she was really impressed.
In case you’re wondering, “Yes” was winning at the time and continues to win now, with 65.7% of the total 65,626 votes so far, compared to only 34.3% who have voted “No” so far.
Maybe there is still some optimism for social media, after all?