Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey: No owner would be best, but Musk is trustworthy to oversee platform

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey says he regrets that the social media platform is a company but is confident that Elon Musk’s takeover can fix what ails it.

Mr. Dorsey said Twitter’s looming sale to Mr. Musk announced Monday is the first step in taking back ownership of the service from Wall Street and he supports the transaction.

Mr. Dorsey is in line for an estimated $978 million payday upon Mr. Musk’s purchase, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter,” Mr. Dorsey said Monday evening. “It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company; however, Elon is the singular solution I trust.” 

Mr. Dorsey said Twitter is the closest thing humanity has to a “global consciousness” and he trusts Mr. Musk to “extend the light of consciousness.”

Since leaving Twitter as CEO late last year, Mr. Dorsey has more openly responded to public criticism. Earlier this month, he implored House Republicans to review YouTube recordings of his testimony to Congress and challenged CNN and Washington Post personalities about whether their criticism of Fox News was hypocritical.

Mr. Dorsey is more guarded about where Twitter went wrong and why he did not fix it. Asked last week by CNBC’s Scott Wapner about why he did not do anything to fix the Twitter board’s alleged dysfunction when he was CEO, Mr. Dorsey demurred. 

“So much to say … but nothing that can be said,” Mr. Dorsey answered. 

Mr. Dorsey became the public face of Twitter after appearing before Congress to answer for Twitter’s censorship decisions. Now Mr. Musk may become the prime target for politicians targeting Twitter. 

For example, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, called Mr. Musk’s impending acquisition “dangerous for our democracy.”

“Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain,” Ms. Warren said Monday. “We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable.”