Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey just unfollowed Mark Zuckerberg
What's the story
Twitter boss Jack Dorsey has never been a fan of Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook. The two have been competing in the big tech arena for years. But, just recently, Dorsey made his dislike for Zuck and his product strategies even more apparent - by unfollowing him in a spectacular fashion. Here's what went down.
Action
Dorsey unfollowed Zuckerberg with an easter egg
On December 17, Dorsey unfollowed the account of Zuck on his own platform. But, in doing so, he also left a small easter egg to make sure that the world knows about his move. The Twitter boss first followed @BigTechAlert, an account reporting the Twitter activities of big tech CEOs, and then unfollowed Zuck, thereby making sure that the former reported on the development.
Action
Account unfollowed soon after following BigTechAlert
Dorsey's action to unfollow Zuck came within a minute of him following BigTechAlert. This implies that he wanted to signal that he was aware of the @BigTechAlert account and knew it would report his Twitter move to the world - which it did. Notably, BigTechAlert has been reporting "what the CEOs and other high executives from Big Tech companies do on Twitter" since 2018.
Twitter Post
Here's the tweet
👀 @jack is no longer following @finkd
— Big Tech Alert (@BigTechAlert) December 17, 2019
Reason
Reason still remains unknown
While Dorsey's action has drawn all the attention, it remains unknown why he took the step. His opinion on how social media space should be run and managed is known to be different from Zuckerberg's point of view, but the exact reason remains unclear. Twitter, too, has not shed light on the matter, which was pretty much expected, given the policy of the platform.
Information
How their opinions differ?
Dorsey and Zuckerberg have had difference of opinions on free expression, fake news, and ads. Their stance even reflects from their products. Dorsey has banned political/election ads on Twitter, while Zuckerberg has not even allowed fact-checking for election-related ads, let alone banning them.
Zuck's account
Zuckerberg hasn't tweeted since 2012
Having said that, it is also worth noting that Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account is still unverified. He hasn't tweeted on the platform since 2012 (all his updates come through his own platform) and has just shared 12 tweets till now. However, interestingly, BigTechAlert's activity reports indicate that Zuck's account is only being used to follow and unfollow people.