Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, was called on by Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) for tweeting during today’s Congressional hearing on disinformation and extremism. The tech manager’s tweet likely expressed frustration with the format of the hearing, which once again forced tech CEOs to convert their answers to complicated questions into simple “yes” or “no” answers – or otherwise to be cut off from the answer. Cryptically, Dorsey tweeted a Twitter poll this afternoon with just one question: “?” that only had two answers to choose from: either a “yes” or a “no”
His post – or social comment, if you will – did not go unnoticed.
Before Rice moved on to her question, which focused on the ability of platforms to radicalize U.S. veterans and military service members, she asked the Twitter CEO about his tweet.
“Mr. Dorsey, what wins – yes or no – on your Twitter account … poll?” Asked Rice, who was sitting in front of a colorful wallpaper covered with flowers, butterflies, bugs and maybe snakes (??) the better Web conference backdrop of the day – maybe even Dorsey’s decision to zoom out of his kitchen with a cleverly placed blockchain clock behind him (because it’s a blockchain clock, of course).
“Yes,” Dorsey replied simply, in the same monotony he had used throughout the hearing, which creates the impression of someone who just can’t get upset about another dog-and-pony show in Congress.
“Hmmm,” admonished Rice.
“Your multitasking skills are pretty impressive,” she sniffed in a tone that didn’t suggest she was actually impressed.
In case you’re wondering, “Yes” won then and continues to win, with 65.7% of the 65,626 votes so far, compared to just 34.3% who voted “No” at the time of writing.
Maybe there is still optimism for social media after all?