In its early days, Twitter (TWTR) was optimistically viewed as a kind of digital pub where you could hang out with friends, meet new people, and shoot the breeze about your interests.

Like most social media in 2019, it’s now seen very differently — it’s an altogether more dangerous beast.

The platform is a toxic place for women, according to Amnesty International. It’s been dubbed a “handmaiden to authoritarianism”. Abuse of politicians on the platform is rife, as is racist abuse of sports people. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s own account was hijacked in August by hackers who posted a message defending Adolf Hitler.

Biz Stone, the self-described “moral compass” of Twitter, is trying to figure out how to fix this mess.

(Biz Stone)

“We have to question everything,” Stone told Yahoo Finance UK. “If we’re going to survive we’re going to have to make changes.”

Stone was one of four co-founders of Twitter in 2006 but left in 2011 to pursue other projects. He returned at CEO Jack Dorsey’s request in 2017, during a low-point for the company.

“It was basically: come back here and make everyone happy again,” Stone said. “Everyone’s miserable, the stock price is at $13, everyone’s leaving, it doesn’t feel special to work at Twitter anymore, users weren’t growing, the company wasn’t growing, the company wasn’t profitable. It was kind of like, what are we doing?”

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