Twitter Co-Founder: ‘It’s a Very Bad Thing’ if Twitter Helped to Elect Trump

Twitter co-founder Evan Wiliams spoke recently about President Trump’s use of the Twitter social media platform to help him to win the presidency, going so far as to apologize on Twitter’s behalf.

In an interview with the New York Times, Williams discussed a comment made by President Trump to Fox News in March when he said, “I think that maybe I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Twitter.” Williams told the Times, “it’s a very bad thing, Twitter’s role in that,” he continued, “if it’s true that he wouldn’t be president if it weren’t for Twitter, then yeah, I’m sorry.”

Williams also spoke at a commencement speech at the University of Nebraska, commenting on Silicon Valley’s arrogance at times, stating that the industry can think of themselves as, “a Prometheus, stealing fire from selfish gatekeeper gods and bestowing it on mere mortals.” He continued to say “What we tend to forget is that Zeus was so pissed at Prometheus that he chained him to a rock so eagles could peck out his guts for eternity.” Williams said, “some would say that’s what we deserve for giving the power of tweets to Donald Trump.”

President Trump has utilized the Twitter social media platform effectively during his campaign and presidency, at one point tweeting that China should keep a captured US underwater drone, criticizing the Affordable Care Act introduced by the Obama administration and pointing out that Democrats opposing the Mexican border wall are benefiting criminal gangs such as MS-13.

President Trump boasts nearly 30 million followers on his @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account and nearly 18 million followers on the @POTUS account.