Social Media Helped Trump Win By 'Dumbing Down the World,' Twitter Founder Says

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” on Tuesday, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams argued that social media platforms—including the one he helped create—greatly contributed to Donald Trump’s ascent to the White House by shortening attention spans and “dumbing the entire world down.”

“It is the ad-driven media that churns stuff out on a minute-by-minute basis and their only measure is whether or not someone clicks on it.” 
Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership—Evan Williams, Twitter

Williams dissented from the common view that Trump’s personal Twitter use was a major factor in his victory, arguing instead that it was the broader effect of social media on the “quality of the information we consume.”

Sensational and inaccurate information can be disseminated more rapidly than ever before thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms, “reinforcing dangerous beliefs and isolating people and limiting people’s open-mindedness and respect for truth.”

“There is a media ecosystem that is supported and thrives on attention, period. And that is what’s making us dumber and not smarter, and Donald Trump is a symptom of that,” Williams said.

Media driven purely by advertising has a particularly distorting effect, Williams argued.

“It is the ad-driven media that churns stuff out on a minute-by-minute basis and their only measure is whether or not someone clicks on it. Therefore quoting Trump’s tweets, or quoting the latest stupidest thing that any political candidate or anyone else says, is an effective way to exploit people’s basest instincts. And that is dumbing the entire world down.”