Breakingviews – Jack Dorsey Dominates Sheryl Sandberg as Technology Representative at DC

WASHINGTON (Reuters Breakingviews) – Surprisingly, Jack Dorsey has overtaken Sheryl Sandberg as Washington's best representative for Big Tech. The dry general manager of Twitter seemed more authentic than the very neat Facebook No. 2 during his first congressional hearing.

At Wednesday's hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Dorsey said he was a man of "few words". It was a stark contrast to Sandberg, who expresses himself more easily in public; his experience in Washington, like Larry Summers' chief of staff at Treasury two decades ago, has also been proven. But she looked more like a politician, repeatedly saying "we can do better" and using jargon as "genuine accounts".

Dorsey gave a more honest analysis of the existential dilemma facing his $ 25 billion micro-blogging site and other social media platforms – toxic user-to-user interactions in disseminating false information to electoral interference.

However, inflammatory content often generates more user engagement, resulting in growth and advertising revenue. Nevertheless, Dorsey told lawmakers he's taking a fundamental look at Twitter's business model and user incentives. For example, the company examines whether it is right to entice a user to gather more followers by putting this figure in a remarkable font. The same goes for retweets. Dorsey said that these measures should not be an indicator of a user's contribution to a healthy dialogue on Twitter, one of the goals of the platform.

The company has already taken action against spam and fake accounts that violate these ideals. As a result, monthly active users of Twitter have already decreased by 1 million in the second quarter, to 335 million. But his comments to Congress on possible "tectonic" changes have dropped Twitter's share of about 5%, doubling Facebook's decline.

There could be more pain ahead. Democrats are considering proposals on privacy, legal liability and even antitrust laws. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, claim anti-conservative bias.

Businesses have been noticed, partly by acting too slowly. But Dorsey seemed humble and acknowledged reality while Sandberg seemed to think that Facebook can handle lawmakers by overtaking them. In an afternoon hearing in the House, Dorsey said that if you took a cup of coffee and read the rules of Twitter, you would not be able to understand them. In the Senate, Sandberg appeared defensive when asked about Facebook's terms of service.

Dorsey looks like the industry envoy Silicon Valley needs while his friend list is in decline.