Since leaving his position as Twitter CEO, the bird app’s founder Jack Dorsey has been keeping himself busy still. His most recent endeavor appears to revolve around Web3, the idea of a decentralised web based on the blockchain. Specifically, he called out the irony that Web3, supposedly aimed at decentralising the web and making it community-focused, is mostly being funded by venture capitalists.
Essentially, Dorsey argues that Web3 is pretty much the same as the current world of Big Tech companies, except that this time it’s the venture capitalists who want to become the ones on top. While Web3 fans will say that the blockchain-based internet will let individual users own their little part of the internet rather than give it to giants like Google and Meta, Dorsey says that you still won’t own anything if and when Web3 rolls around. He also targeted the venture capital firms funding Web3 projects such as Andreessen Horowitz and specifically one of its partners, Chris Dixon, who deals with Web3 related stuff at the firm:
Dorsey even got Tesla CEO in on the act. Elon, who as usual spends perhaps too much of his time on Twitter, tweeted out a jab at Web3, asking if anyone’s seen it. Dorsey responded in typical fashion, this time a jab at Andreesen Horowitz itself. Andreessen Horowitz for those of you unfamiliar with the venture capital firm brands itself under the name ‘a16z’.
You can check Dorsey’s Twitter profile for more of him dunking on Andreessen Horowitz, but it wasn’t long before Marc Andreessen, the entrepreneur and investor who founded the venture capital firm, blocked him on Twitter. This led to Dorsey claiming that he’s now banned from Web3 altogether, again highlighting his complaint that Web3 projects will be owned not by the average user but by these venture capital firms funding them.
Funnily enough, another current Twitter executive—Nick Caldwell, the general manager for Core Tech at Twitter—also highlighted that he’s been blocked by Marc Andreessen. This simply gave even more fire for Dorsey to play with, pointing out the hypocrisy between the firm’s goals as listed on its website and the actions of its founder.
It’s clear that the very public spat between Dorsey and Andreessen Horowitz won’t be ending anytime soon. If anything, it’s a surprise it took this long for it to get this ugly, as Andreessen Horowitz was actually one of the biggest investors into the app Clubhouse. In case you forgot about it, the audio-only platform that grew during the pandemic was seemingly copied by Twitter, who created the Twitter Spaces feature. Twitter Spaces eventually led to the waning popularity of Clubhouse, among other factors.
