Jack Dorsey Gets Caught Live-Trolling Congress During Testimony

Twitter Inc TWTR CEO Jack Dorsey faced flak from a Congress member for tweeting during a hearing Thursday, Reuters reported. 

What Happened: The hearing involved Dorsey along with CEOs of Facebook Inc FB and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG. 

The tech leaders were asked questions in a “yes or no” format and touched on whether the platforms they run had any responsibility for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. 

Dorsey, who also heads Square Inc SQ,  asked his 5.3 million followers a similar “yes or no” question while the hearing was in progress, according to Reuters.

The result was Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) asking the Twitter CEO, “Mr. Dorsey, what is winning, yes or no, on your Twitter account poll?”

Rice then told Dorsey, “your multi-tasking skills are quite impressive.”

Why It Matters: Democratic and Republican lawmakers did not allow the tech CEOs to give long answers and quizzed them on topics ranging from COVID-19 misinformation, harassment, hate speech, and extremism, noted Reuters.

Dorsey reportedly also liked tweets critical of the hearing, including one asking why Congress members were mispronouncing Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s name.

Dorsey confirmed in a reply to a tweet that he was barefoot during the session. 

This week, Dorsey sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT for $2.5 million. The CEO intends to give the proceeds to an Africa-oriented charity.

On Thursday, Amazon.com, Inc AMZN executive Dave Clark received backlash after posting pointed tweets aimed at Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). 

Price Action: Twitter shares closed nearly 1.4% lower at $61.20 on Thursday and gained 0.65% in the after-hours session.

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