Twitter Co-Founder Apologizes for Twitter’s Potential Role in Making Trump President

“It’s A Very Bad Thing”

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams has apologized for the social media platform’s potential role in making Donald Trump the 45th President of the United States.

Williams spoke with The New York Times, calling the Internet “broken,” and discussed Trump’s affinity for using 140 characters (or less) to reach the world. As The Hill reported, the conversation soon turned to Trump’s claim to Fox News that he wouldn’t be president “if it wasn’t for Twitter.” 

“It’s a very bad thing, Twitter’s role in that,” Williams told The Times. “If it’s true that he wouldn’t be president if it weren’t for Twitter, then yeah, I’m sorry.”

 The Times further reported that in a commencement speech at the University of Nebraska, Williams likened Silicon Valley to Prometheus, the mythological Greek figure who gave fire to mankind.

“What we tend to forget is that Zeus… 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.”

After the election and prior to assuming the presidency, Donald Trump told 60 Minutes he would be very restrained in his Twitter use once he officially became President, hailing Twitter as “a modern form of communication.”

“I’m gonna do very restrained,” Trump said, “if I use it at all. There should be nothing you should be ashamed of. It’s where it’s at.” The full exchange can be seen below:

  

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