/biz/ - Business & Finance

Billionaire Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Takes on China

>Jack Dorsey speaks little, but when he does, he does not hesitate to attack the powerful.

The founder of microblogging website Twitter (TWTR) - Get Twitter Inc. Report last June decided to work on a new generation of decentralized internet that would escape the control of big tech -- Alphabet's Google (GOOGL) - Get Alphabet Inc. Report and Meta's (META) - Get Meta Platforms Inc. Report Facebook -- and venture capital firms.

This decision came after a verbal confrontation on Twitter with legendary VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Web 3, the new iteration of the internet, is “somewhere between a and z,” Dorsey wrote in December, referring to a16Z, a shorthand for Andreessen Horowitz.

He meant that since a16Z is one of the main firms financing web3 projects, we would simply go from an internet controlled by Google, Meta, and others to an internet dominated by VCs. Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner at a16z, then blocked Dorsey on Twitter.

Andreessen, who also co-founded the early internet platform Netscape and was an early investor in Facebook, has been an early backer of web 3. He has already invested more than $3 billion into various crypto and web 3 startups.
'End the CCP'

"End the CCP," Dorsey wrote, without elaborating.

"Green code is needed to enter public areas. Red means quarantine/isolation. Authorities track people's movements thru these apps. Concern is this surveillance will stay long after covid is gone." the reporter said

"After more than two years of these on and off restrictions, people are getting frustrated," she said in the report. "Every part of our days are tracked and surveilled."

Health apps, which are mandatory in China, show users a "green code" if they are allowed to travel and a "red code" if they must immediately self-isolate or enter quarantine.

But critics have warned that Chinese authorities are using health apps to crack down on dissent.