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As Elon Musk drags Twitter and its users through more and more turbulence, its founder Jack Dorsey has made a supportive observation from the sidelines.

He posted that “Running Twitter is hard” and “it’s easy to critique the decisions from afar”.

The 46-year-old billionaire left the platform he co-founded in 2006 to launch what he calls a “decentralised” alternative, which looks a lot like Twitter.

But while Dorsey rolls out Bluesky Social and continues to sing the praises of Bitcoin, Twitter users are left at the whim of his former favourite Tweeter.

Here Sky News looks at how Twitter’s founder got to where he is.

Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey gestures while interacting with students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi on November 12, 2018. - Dorsey hosted a town hall meeting with university students on his visit to the Indian capital New Delhi. (Photo by Prakash SINGH / AFP)        (Photo credit should read PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images)
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Addressing students at the Indian Institute of Technology

Self-made taxi dispatch developer

Dorsey was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1976. His father developed spectrometers.

By the time he was 14 he’d developed an unusual interest in the software that dispatches taxis.

He went to the University of Missouri-Rolla at 19 and transferred to New York University two years later, but dropped out a semester before he was due to graduate.

Instead he moved to California, where he created his own company to send out taxis, couriers and emergency service vehicles via the internet.

While working as a programmer for the dispatch platform in 2000, he decided he wanted to create a messaging service to update his friends on what he was doing – without having to sit in front of a computer.

He approached a podcasting company called Odeo, where he got a job alongside Christopher ‘Biz’ Stone, Evan Williams and Noah Glass – who would become his Twitter co-founders.

Twitter co-founders Dorsey (left), Biz Stone (second left) and Evan Williams celebrate stock exchange listing with Dick Costolo in 2013
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Twitter co-founders Dorsey (left), Biz Stone (second left) and Evan Williams celebrate stock exchange listing with Dick Costolo in 2013

Although Dorsey had been inspired by instant messaging platforms such as AOL and MSN, he and Stone decided a text-based service would better suit his status-update idea.

In two weeks they’d built a prototype for Twitter.

When Odeo went out of business in 2006, Dorsey returned to the messaging idea and officially launched ‘Twittr’ in March that year, making himself chief executive.

Dorsey in October 2010
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Dorsey in October 2010

Overnight billionaire

Dorsey secured the support of venture capitalists and as celebrities signed up the app grew in popularity.

Two years later, Dorsey moved from chief executive to chairman of the board, reportedly having often left work early to prioritise hobbies such as yoga and fashion design.

When he was younger he briefly dabbled with modelling.

Jack Dorsey, interim CEO of Twitter and CEO of Square, goes for a walk on the first day of the annual Allen and Co. media conference in Sun Valley
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Seen in 2016

In 2009 he courted controversy after joining a US State Department trip to Iraq. Designed to rebuild tech hopes there after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the trip itself was fairly uneventful.

But later that year when the Green Revolution happened, Dorsey agreed to reschedule planned maintenance to Twitter’s servers so protesters could still communicate.

It was seen as a breach of policy given President Barack Obama had promised the US would not meddle in Iraq’s affairs. Dorsey went to Russia on another State Department delegation the following year.

Dorsey and President Barack Obama at Twitter's town hall in 2011
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Dorsey and President Barack Obama at Twitter’s town hall in 2011

In 2011 he invited Mr Obama to Twitter’s first ever town hall – where he had to remind him to keep his answers to 140 characters.

Two years later, although it hadn’t been launched with profit in mind, Twitter became a listed company, making Dorsey an overnight billionaire.

Read more:
What is Bluesky?
Twitter appoints new chief executive
Musk asks Twitter if he should step down as CEO

When in 2015 the company’s replacement chief executive Dick Costolo announced his resignation, Dorsey returned as interim – but took up the post on a permanent basis in October.

Meanwhile back in 2010 Dorsey had begun splitting his time between Twitter and a new venture – Square – technology that transformed smartphones and tablets into debit card readers for small businesses.

But as competitors launched rival products, it began to struggle with losses of up to $100million (£79m).

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 09: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey speaks during a press event at CES 2019 at the Aria Resort & Casino on January 9, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 11 and features about 4,500 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 180,000 attendees. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
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Pictured in 2019

Dorsey rebranded Square ‘Block’ in 2021, in reference to his interest in Blockchain, officially giving himself the job title ‘Block Head’ in 2022.

Back at Twitter in 2016, the 140-character limit was effectively increased by no longer including links or photos in the count. The decision was a bid to attract new users – as the number of daily tweets had fallen globally.

A year later it increased again – doubling to 280 characters.

Tech moving faster than policy

In 2018, Twitter and other social media platforms began having to answer to the US government.

The first time Dorsey testified, alongside then-Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, he was quizzed on interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Hours of questioning saw Dorsey post a picture of his heartrate on Twitter. The platform was also accused of anti-Conservative bias, share prices fell, and the decision was made to ban all political advertising the following year.

Dorsey and Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg give evidence to Congress in 2018
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Dorsey and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg give evidence to Congress in 2018

During his time in office, Dorsey met with President Donald Trump, who had expressed concern his followers were being removed.

Dorsey oversaw misinformation warning labels applied to some of Mr Trump’s tweets during his 2020 election campaign and the permanent suspension of his account following the Capitol riots of January 2021.

Mr Trump set up his own platform – Truth Social, while Dorsey stuck by the ban, but also expressed concerns it set a “dangerous precedent”.

He appeared before Congress on two other occasions as Twitter boss – once in October 2020 and again the following month.

Dorsey gives evidence to Congress via videolink in 2020
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Dorsey gives evidence to Congress via videolink in 2020

The first time, in front of the US Senate Commerce Committee, he answered questions alongside Facebook and Google executives about a law that protects tech companies for being prosecuted over content generated on their platforms.

Dorsey said changing it would “collapse how we communicate on the Internet”.

The following month he gave evidence alongside Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on how content was moderated around the 2020 election.

When COVID emerged in 2020 the Twitter founder promised to donate $1bn (£0.79bn) of his total wealth to relief programmes.

The following year when the Delta variant hit India, he donated £15m (£11.8m) to support programmes there.

The pandemic scuppered plans he’d announced in 2019 to move to Africa. He said the continent would “define the future (especially the bitcoin one!)”.

Tesla founder Elon Musk
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Elon Musk

Musk takes Twitter

Dorsey and Musk’s relationship predates his ill-fated takeover.

When in 2020 it was reported that one of Twitter’s investors Elliott Management was trying to replace Dorsey as chief executive, Musk tweeted his support, saying he had a “good heart”.

In return, Dorsey said Musk was one of his favourite Twitter users and that his updates “focused on solving existential problems and sharing his thinking openly”.

The founder added that he enjoyed the “ups and downs” of Musk’s use of his site – something he may have later come to regret – to which Musk replied: “Twitter rocks!”

They shared an enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies, with Dorsey describing Bitcoin – or ‘The B Word’ as he calls it – as “direct activism against an… exclusionary financial system”.

In late-2021 Dorsey announced he was leaving Twitter in a staff email posted to his account, claiming he wanted to move the firm away from its “founding and founders”.

Musk, believed to be the wealthiest person in the world, began buying shares in Twitter at the beginning of 2022.

By April he was the biggest shareholder, with a 9.1% stake.

He was invited to join the board of directors – and despite initially turning the role down – then made an unsolicited offer to buy the entire company for $44bn (£34.5bn).

By July, Musk had said he wanted to back out of the deal as Twitter had failed to uphold its promise of cracking down on spambot accounts.

The move triggered legal action against Musk – who just weeks before a trial was due to start in Delaware – gave in and decided to go ahead, closing the deal in November.

Musk began by firing half Twitter’s employees, including the chief executive, which then triggered mass resignations.

After a tumultuous few months in the job, in which he expressed regret for buying the platform, he has made several chaotic changes and given up the job of chief executive.

Twitter and Bluesky logos are seen in this illustration taken November 7, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Twitter and Bluesky logos are seen in this illustration taken November 7, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration


Beginnings of Bluesky

Dorsey, meanwhile has been working on a Twitter successor, Bluesky Social.

He started it in 2019, but soft launched it with a beta version in late-2022.

Having seen Twitter grow at dizzying speed, he is rolling out membership on an invite-only basis.

Bluesky is a “decentralised” platform, which Dorsey hopes will stop the kind of hostile concentration of power we’ve seen with Musk.

He retains a 2.4% stake in Twitter.

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Car manufacturers fined £461m for collusion

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Car manufacturers fined £461m for collusion

Major car manufacturers and two trade bodies are to pay a total of £461m for “colluding to restrict competition” over vehicle recycling, UK and European regulators have announced.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said they illegally agreed not to compete against one another when advertising what percentage of their cars can be recycled.

They also colluded to avoid paying third parties to recycle their customers’ scrap cars, the watchdog said.

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It explained that those involved were BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen.

Mercedes-Benz, was also party to the agreements, the CMA said, but it escaped a financial penalty because the German company alerted it to its participation.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (Acea) and the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) were also involved in the illegal agreements.

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The CMA imposed a combined penalty of almost £78m while the European Commission handed out fines totalling €458m (£382.7m).

The penalties were announced at a time of wider turmoil for Europe’s car industry.

Manufacturers across the continent are bracing for the threatened impact of tariffs on all their exports to the United States as part of Donald Trump’s trade war.

Within the combined fine settlements of £77.7m issued by the CMA, Ford was to pay £18.5m, VW £14.8m, BMW £11.1m and Jaguar Land Rover £4.6m.

Lucilia Falsarella Pereira, senior director of competition enforcement at the CMA, said: “Agreeing with competitors the prices you’ll pay for a service or colluding to restrict competition is illegal and this can extend to how you advertise your products.

“This kind of collusion can limit consumers’ ability to make informed choices and lower the incentive for companies to invest in new initiatives.

“We recognise that competing businesses may want to work together to help the environment, in those cases our door is open to help them do so.”

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Customers ‘protected’ as household energy supplier exits market

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Customers 'protected' as household energy supplier exits market

A household energy supplier has failed, weeks after it attracted attention from regulators.

Rebel Energy, which has around 80,000 domestic customers and 10,000 others, had been the subject of a provisional order last month related to compliance with rules around renewable energy obligations.

The company’s website said it was “ceasing to trade” but gave no reason.

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Industry watchdog Ofgem said on Tuesday that those affected by Rebel’s demise did not need to take any action and would be “protected”.

Customers, Ofgem said, would soon be appointed a new provider under its supplier of last resort (SoLR) mechanism.

This was deployed widely in 2021 when dozens of energy suppliers collapsed while failing to get to grips with a spike in wholesale energy costs.

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Why is the energy price cap rising?

The last supplier to go under was in July 2022.

Ofgem said new rules governing supplier business practices since then had bolstered resilience.

These include minimum capital requirements and the ringfencing of customer credit balances.

The exit from the market by Bedford-based Rebel was announced on the same day that the energy price cap rose again to take account of soaring wholesale costs between December and January.

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Tim Jarvis, director general for markets at Ofgem, said: “Rebel Energy customers do not need to worry, and I want to reassure them that they will not see any disruption to their energy supply, and any credit they may have on their accounts remains protected under Ofgem’s rules.

“We are working quickly to appoint new suppliers for all impacted customers. We’d advise customers not to try to switch supplier in the meantime, and a new supplier will be in touch in the coming weeks with further information.

“We have worked hard to improve the financial resilience of suppliers in recent years, implementing a series of rules to make sure they can weather unexpected shocks. But like any competitive market, some companies will still fail from time to time, and our priority is making sure consumers are protected if that happens.”

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Harrods challenges survivors’ law firm’s compensation cut

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Harrods challenges survivors' law firm's compensation cut

Harrods is urging lawyers acting for the largest group of survivors of abuse perpetrated by its former owner to reconsider plans to swallow a significant chunk of claimants’ compensation payouts in fees.

Sky News has learnt that KP Law, which is acting for hundreds of potential clients under the banner Justice for Harrods, is proposing to take up to 25% of compensation awards in exchange for handling their cases.

In many cases, that is likely to mean survivors foregoing sums worth of tens of thousands of pounds to KP Law, which says it is working for hundreds of people who suffered abuse committed by Mohamed al Fayed.

Mohamed al Fayed. File pic: PA
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Mohamed al Fayed. File pic: PA

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Under a redress scheme outlined by the London-based department store on Monday, which confirmed earlier reports by Sky News, claimants will be eligible for general damages awards of up to £200,000, depending upon whether they agree to a psychiatric assessment arranged by Harrods.

In addition, other payments could take the maximum award to an individual under the scheme to £385,000.

A document published online names several law firms which have agreed to represent Mr al Fayed’s victims without absorbing any of their compensation payments.

More on Mohamed Al Fayed

KP Law is not among those firms.

Theoretically, if Justice for Harrods members are awarded compensation in excess of the sums proposed by the company, KP Law could stand to earn many millions of pounds from its share of the payouts.

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‘Many more’ likely abused by Fayed

A Harrods spokesperson told Sky News on Tuesday: “The purpose of the Harrods Redress Scheme is to offer financial and psychological support to those who choose to enter the scheme, rather than as a route to criminal justice.

“With a survivor-first approach, it has been designed by personal injury experts with the input of several legal firms currently representing survivors.

“Although Harrods tabled the scheme, control of the claim is in the hands of the survivors who can determine at any point to continue, challenge, opt out or seek alternative routes such as mediation or litigation.

“Our hope is that everyone receives 100% of the compensation awarded to them but we understand there is one exception among these law firms currently representing survivors who is proposing to take up to 25% of survivors’ compensation.

“We hope they will reconsider given we have already committed to paying reasonable legal costs.”

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Further claims against al Fayed

Responding to the publication of the scheme on Monday, KP Law criticised it as inadequate, saying it “does not go far enough to deliver the justice and accountability demanded by our clients”.

“This is not solely a question of compensation but about justice and exposing the systematic abuse and the many people who helped to operate it for the benefit of Mohamed al Fayed and others.”

Seeking to rebut the questions raised by Harrods about its fee structure, KP Law told Sky News: “KP Law is committed to supporting our clients through the litigation process to obtain justice first and foremost as well as recovering the maximum possible damages for them.

“This will cover all potential outcomes for the case.

“Despite the Harrods scheme seeking to narrow the potential issues, we believe that there are numerous potential defendants in a number of jurisdictions that are liable for what our clients went through, and we are committed to securing justice for our client group.

“KP Law is confident that it will recover more for its clients than what could be achieved through the redress scheme established by Harrods, which in our view is inadequate and does not go far enough to compensate victims of Mr al Fayed.”

The verbal battle between Harrods and KP Law underlines the fact that the battle for compensation and wider justice for survivors of Mr al Fayed remains far from complete.

The billionaire, who died in 2023, is thought to have sexually abused hundreds of women during a 25-year reign of terror at Harrods.

He also owned Fulham Football Club and Paris’s Ritz Hotel.

Harrods is now owned by a Qatari sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Gulf state’s ruling family.

The redress scheme commissioned by the department store is being coordinated by MPL Legal, an Essex-based law firm.

Last October, lawyers acting for victims of Mr al Fayed said they had received more than 420 enquiries about potential claims, although it is unclear how many more have come forward in the six months since.

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