Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, is basking in accolades for his decision to ban all political ads from his platform. That is Twitter's call to make, but if Dorsey is going to wrap himself in a populist defense of the common man's voice, he might conjure a justification whose posture toward that man is less condescending.
Dorsey argued that the reach of political messages “should be earned, not bought.” To what extent anything on Twitter is “earned” through 280 characters of substantive, nuanced political conversation is questionable. Shallow outrage is likelier to “earn” retweets, which is not to say that Twitter—which can encourage concision, a precondition of wit—does not have its place. Regardless, Dorsey's claim is the populist celebration of social media: Anyone can speak and, with a sufficiently compelling message, reach a limitless audience.
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