He then launched a Twitter poll, polling users on whether he should step down. Musk abides by past polls, even though they are unscientific and unrepresentative.
“Should I resign as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” he wrote. He added shortly afterwards: “As the saying goes, be careful what you want, because you might just get it.”
Should I resign as head of Twitter? I will abide by the outcome of this vote.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
Respondents in the Musk poll leaned heavily toward “yes,” suggesting that Musk should step down, after nearly an hour of voting: 58% of more than 3 million votes were in favor of him handing over the leadership. The poll is due Monday morning before the stock market opens. The value of Tesla stock — the source of much of Musk’s net worth — has plummeted recently.Musk’s Twitter exit will improve Tesla’s outlook, investors say
Musk’s sudden shift came after Twitter said earlier in the day that it would start suspending accounts linked to “prohibited platforms” such as Facebook and Instagram if those accounts were “primarily used to promote content on another social platform.” Sunday.
this policyTweets that promote accounts on certain sites may be removed if users urge their Twitter followers to join them elsewhere, the tweet, published this month and posted on Sunday afternoon, said.
“At the tweet level as well as at the account level, we will remove any free promotion of prohibited third-party social media platforms,” the policy said.It lists several examples of such social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social, where former President Donald Trump co-founded.
Musk’s ownership of Twitter — which he bought for $44 billion in October — has thrown the site into turmoil. He fired the company’s top executives, installed a loyal following, fired more than half the staff, and eliminated Twitter’s content moderation. As the site’s owner, he participated in the spread of misinformation and hastily rolled out new and confusing changes, sparking controversy and alarming advertisers, some of whom suspended spending on the site.
His sudden and sometimes arbitrary decision has angered many of Twitter’s core users and employees, as well as some of his own supporters who pushed his ownership bid to be rooted in a “free speech”-driven approach.
On Sunday, Musk appeared to be losing support from some of those who supported his stewardship of the new policy on Twitter.
George Hotz, a software developer whom Musk hired as an intern at the company after his passion for the business tycoon’s takeover, tweeted a link to his Instagram account on Sunday night.
“If it’s banned, I don’t want to go to this place again. It’s far from free speech,” he tweeted.
It’s a far cry from a few weeks ago, when Musk issued an ultimatum to Twitter employees, saying they needed to build the new Twitter at an “extremely tenacious” pace.
“This attitude makes for incredible things. Let go of all who don’t aspire to greatness,” Hotz wrote.
Meanwhile, Twitter users criticized the suspension of Paul Graham, who spoke highly of Musk’s leadership but also tweeted about his Mastodon account, screenshots from the site show.
“This is the final straw,” he wrote, according to screenshots posted on the website. Graham’s account was suspended shortly after.
That prompted a slew of users, including NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, to get involved. “This is a bad policy and should be reversed,” he tweeted.
The moves put Musk on the defensive as he appeared to respond to the backlash, a rare move by the Twitter leader since he took over in October.
“Paul’s account will be restored shortly,” he tweeted.
Twitter has cut most of its public relations team since Musk took over the company in October, and Musk did not respond to an emailed list of questions about the new rules earlier in the day.
The billionaire Musk, who owns Tesla and SpaceX, recently suspended and reinstated a string of high-profile journalists who he believed violated Twitter’s rules.
In the weeks since Twitter’s sale was finalized, Musk has rolled back enforcement of many of the site’s previous policies on hate speech and misinformation, while turning to unscientific polls to make decisions in some cases, such as Reinstate former President Donald Trump.
The new policy banning links to some other social media sites comes after a number of high-profile Twitter users promoted their alternate accounts, often saying that staying on Twitter could become untenable as Musk overhauls the platform .
On Sunday, the company’s announcement sparked debate over whether the move would bring legal challenges to Twitter.
“This is the clearest statement of weakness I’ve seen from a major US tech platform, and a transparent statement of anticompetitive intent, GC Will set himself on fire to prevent that (if anyone takes that job at Twitter),” tweets Former Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos, using the acronym “General Counsel”. He now leads the Stanford Internet Observatory, “a research, teaching and policy program focused on the misuse of information technology,” according to its website.
In addition to linking to Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social, promoting social media sites Mastodon, Tribel, Post and Nostr are also restricted by Twitter’s new policy announced earlier Sunday. Third-party link aggregators such as linktr.ee and lnk.bio are also prohibited. Listing social media handles without URLs is not allowed.
First-time violations of this policy could range from requests to delete tweets to temporary account locks, Twitter said. Accounts may be suspended if violations appear on resumes or account names, the company said. Subsequent violations of this policy may result in permanent suspension.
Twitter abruptly suspended access to several high-profile journalists last week, including one from The Washington Post, after Musk claimed they had shared “essentially assassination coordinates” for him and his family — which Apparently referring to tweets about the platform’s suspended account tracking public flight data from Musk’s private jet. On Saturday, Twitter allowed several journalists to return to the platform.
Musk also temporarily suspended and then reinstated a second Post reporter this weekend.
“Again, there was no warning, process, or explanation for the suspension — this time our reporters simply solicited Musk’s comment on a story,” Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee said in a statement Sunday. Immediately restore the status quo, and no arbitrary conditions shall be set.”
Musk was in Qatar for the World Cup final on Sunday, tweeting about the match.