One of the defining trends of 2025, likely to carry far into next year and beyond, is the number of tech sector leaders who have embraced President Donald Trump.
While Elon Musk has become one of his closest advisors, the list of tech CEOs who attended his inauguration included Meta Platform’s (META) Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Sundar Pichai, and Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos.
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Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook risked blowback from his customers when he made a sizable donation to Trump’s inaugural fund. And while Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang did not attend the inauguration, he has visited Trump at the White House.
Still, not every prominent tech leader has come out in support of Trump or Musk. In fact, an engineer credited with helping launch one of the industry’s most influential companies recently issued some harsh words about how Musk is approaching his new position on Capitol Hill.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak isn’t laughing at Elon Musk’s recent antics at the DOGE or Tesla.
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A member of tech’s old guard sounds off on Musk’s antics
When most people think of Apple, they likely think of former CEO Steve Jobs and his iconic keynote addresses that helped usher in a new era of technology and innovation. But much of the company’s success as a tech pioneer is due to the man who served as Jobs’ partner.
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Steve Wozniak didn’t achieve Jobs’ type of fame, but many experts have credited him with making the rise of Apple possible through his engineering feats. Known often as “Woz,” he is considered the inventor of both the Apple I and II computers, making the personal computing revolution possible.
Wozniak’s iconic nice-guy demeanor is one factor that separates him from much of the tech sector. He’s known for his love of music and art and rarely posts about tech on social media.
But in a recent interview with CNBC, Woz didn’t hold back on letting the world know exactly where he stands on both Musk and his work with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) while also revealing how he feels about Musk’s company.
“Sometimes you get so rich at these big companies, and you’re on top — it goes to your head,” Wozniak noted, adding that he wasn’t sure what had happened to Musk. “I definitely think that we should look for inefficiencies in government, but pretty much have a huge department that analyzes bit by bit by bit,” he stated.
Wozniak offered further speculation on Musk’s work at DOGE, noting that “bullying is the best way to think of it.” He added that he has always favored the little guy over the bully in any scenario and, likewise, the consumer of something over its producer.
This consumer vs. producer analogy may seem odd, given the nature of the interview. But Wozinak later criticized Tesla’s (TSLA) vehicles, describing Musk’s company as “the worst in the world” at improving its user interface.
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While Wozniak is a Tesla owner himself, he has levied criticism against Musk several times. In 2017, he warned that the company could be overhyped, stating, “If [Tesla says] something is going to happen, don’t quite count on it.” In the years since, Tesla has gone on to miss many deadlines, lending support to Woz’s thesis.
Musk may have slyly taken action against Wozniak
So far, Musk hasn’t issued a statement in response to Wozniak’s calling him a bully and criticizing his EV company and style of work at DOGE. But recently, Wozniak revealed something that suggests Musk may have targeted him.
Related: Apple blames name-calling glitch on its new AI feature
In a February 17 post on Bluesky, he claimed that his X account had been blocked, and he suspected Musk could be responsible, stating:
“Over the years, I have a few times called Musk a liar (across the country by 2016, then 2017) and thief (money for upgrades), on national TV even. Maybe that’s why my Twitter account has been blocked for a few months despite violating no rules. I can’t get it fixed.”
Granted, Wozniak seems to have fully embraced Bluesky as a social media platform, as he has posted consistently since joining it. So far, Musk has not acknowledged the suggestion that he blocked Wozniak’s X account, but it does not appear that any move has been made to rectify it.
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