This article was published on December 14, 2016

Did Trump exclude Twitter from tech summit over emoji debacle?


Did Trump exclude Twitter from tech summit over emoji debacle?

Yesterday we reported Donald Trump’s snub of Twitter’s Jack Dorsey from his tech summit — a meeting with the who’s-who of the tech world including Tim Cook (Apple), Larry Page (Alphabet), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook), and Satya Nadella (Microsoft), among many others.

Jack Dorsey, the creator and current CEO of the platform Trump rode into battle — and continues to ride to his political death — wasn’t invited.

Today, a report from Politico may have the answer to Dorsey’s snub. I doubt it, but it may. According to the publication’s sources, Trump may still be fuming over a failed negotiation to allow an emoji version of the #CrookedHillary hashtag. On Twitter, some hashtags have an accompanying icon, such as the American flag, a podium during the debates, or other small embellishments of that nature. #CrookedHillary, according to a Politico source, wasn’t something Jack Dorsey was on board with.

According to Trump’s transition team, the story is hogwash. “They weren’t invited because they aren’t big enough,” a spokesperson told Reuters. By comparison, Twitter doesn’t really match up to the Facebook’s, Google’s, or Microsoft’s of the world, and even the relatively small companies, like Tesla, don’t compare favorably: Tesla’s valuation is $31.5 billion as opposed to $13.5 billion for Twitter.

For the first time in Trump’s short political career, I tend to side with his version of the story being true. Then again, he’s proven to be notoriously thin-skinned and prone to seeking retribution over perceived slights, so if I’m being honest: neither version would surprise me.

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