“They’re programming you”: Twitter founder Jack Dorsey says social media algorithms aren’t serving you—they’re controlling you

Footage of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey warning social media users about what they become while scrolling resurfaced this week. His speech took place at the Africa Bitcoin Conference 2024, where he spoke candidly about the hidden purpose of platforms like the one he created in 2007.

We may have all suspected that what he said is true, but it’s truly something to hear the former Twitter CEO say it out loud.

Jack Dorsey on social media: “You are the product”

You may have already heard the adage that if the tech you’re using is free, you’re the product. At the Bitcoin conference in December, Dorsey explained exactly how this works with social media.

“If you actually think about what you’re doing when you’re posting, it’s not just reaching your audience,” he said.

“You’re actually doing work for that company for free. Every time you hit the heart, every time you like a post, every time you retweet something, that’s a signal to an algorithm.”

@businessblurb Jack Dorsey on Social Media in 2025 #entrepreneur #tech #techtok #business #ai ♬ original sound – Business Blurb

“All of these algorithms predominantly are only focused on increasing the number of impressions, and the reason why, is that increases the number of advertising revenue.”

It was never about gifting humanity a way to reach each other from across the globe. It was about collecting and selling data to people who want to sell you stuff better. This strategy really took off with social media and evolved into wearable AI products sold as your “friend” but really exist to collect your data at all times.

The algorithms on sites like the one now called X are particularly dangerous, Dorsey says, because of how they affect your mind.

“I should not be reliant upon Google’s algorithm to tell me what I should pay attention to, because they’re programming you,” he said. “And they can change that algorithm at any point and program you in a different way, and they have in the past, and they will continue to do so.”

“Where was he with this in 2015?”

Business news TikTok account @businessblurb posted this clip from the conference on Tuesday to its following of over 400,000. Many of them pointed out the irony of the creator of one of the most popular social media sites saying this about his own brain baby.

“Dude never said anything when he was on Twitter,” @mph0.m pointed out.

“Is this news to anyone in 2025?” asked @hellothereitssean. “Where was he with this in 2015?”

It might also say something about the addictive nature of these platforms that we all kind of knew this already but keep using them anyway. Plenty joked about how they pressed “like” on the video because they agreed.

“Nodding my head as I tapped like, then realized my typing is making is worse,” wrote @reignventures.

“Here working for TikTok,” said @luisja_c.

Some, however, went beyond cynicism and thought up ways we could all get paid for our work.

“This is where universal basic income comes from,” wrote justinwyatt98. “It’s the world is data driven, and we make models of people then we should get paid for our model.”

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