Twitter co-founder Ev Williams says ‘sorry’ for any part in Trump’s surprise election win
Twitter co-founder Ev Williams has responded to criticism that Twitter played a role in helping president Donald Trump get elected by acknowledging that Twitter’s role in the election was ‘very bad’.
Twitter co-founder Ev Williams says ‘sorry’ for any part in Trump’s surprise election win
Speaking to the New York Times, Williams said: “It's a very bad thing, Twitter's role in that. If it's true that he wouldn't be president if it weren't for Twitter, then yeah, I'm sorry.”
Trump has gone on record to attribute Twitter with his electoral success by allowing him to bypass the mainstream media to speak with his supporter base directly via a quick-fire stream of tweets, telling Fox News in March: “Well, let me tell you about Twitter. I think that maybe I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Twitter.”
Venture capitalist Peter Thiel, one of Trump’s few cheerleaders in Silicon Valley has previously spoken of the irony of the situation, saying: “I think the crazy thing is, at a place like Twitter, they were all working for Trump this whole year, even though they thought they were working for [ex Democratic presidential candidate Bernie] Sanders."
Williams has now moved onto pastures new running his own blogging platform, Medium, although he retains a presence on Twitter’s board and is a major shareholder.