Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey backs up Donald Trump's 140 character micro-rants

Donald Trump's Twitter habits have raised eyebrows and serious concerns, but CEO Jack Dorsey says his tweets are "really important". In an interview on NBC's Sunday Today with Willie Geist that will air this weekend, Dorsey said it is "really important to hear directly from our leadership."

"I believe it's really important to hold them accountable. And I believe it's really important to have these conversations out in the open, rather than have them behind closed doors. So if we're all to suddenly take these platforms away, where does it go? What happens?" said Dorsey.

"It goes in the dark. And I just don't think that's good for everyone."

Before he took office, Trump used the platform to criticise his opponents and critics. After winning the election in November, Trump vowed to be "very restrained" in his social media usage during his presidency.

However, critics have raised concerns that Trump violated Twitter's harassment policies by attacking individuals and businesses in his tweets. Concerns have also been raised over the frequently deleted tweets and his posts' influence on foreign policy and stocks.

While Twitter has previously said it holds all user accounts to the same standard, Dorsey recently said it also takes "newsworthiness" into consideration.

"Our policy does [account for] newsworthiness as well, and that was requested by our policy team," he said in an earlier interview. "So we're not taking something down that people should be able to report on and actually show that this is what the source said. It's really important to make sure that we provide that source for the right reporting, and to minimize bias in articles."

Back in December, Dorsey said his feelings on Trump's tweeting were "complicated".

"I feel very proud of the role of the service and what it stands for and everything that we've done, and that continues to accelerate every single day," he said at the time. "Especially as it's had such a spotlight on it through his usage and through the election."

"America is responsible for Donald Trump being president. He's known how to use it for quite some time. I think it's an important time for the company and service. And having [Trump] on our service — using it as a direct line of communication — allows everyone to see what's on his mind in the moment. I think that's interesting.

"I haven't seen that before. We're definitely entering a new world where everything is on the surface and we can all see it in real time and we can have conversations about it. Where does that go? I'm not really sure. But it's definitely been fascinating to learn from."

Late last month, Twitter reported better-than-expected first quarter earnings and touted surprisingly strong user growth in a year, adding nine million monthly active users.

"We believe Twitter is the best at showing what's happening in the world and what's being talked about," Twitter chief operating officer Anthony Noto said in an earnings call. "Having the political leaders of the world as well as news agencies participating and driving that is an important element to reinforcing what we're best at."