He then launched a Twitter poll that polled users on whether he would resign. Musk had fit in past polls, even though they were unscientific and unrepresentative.
“Should I resign as Twitter head? I will act according to the results of this survey.” He wrote. A short time later he added: “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, because you can have it.”
Should I resign as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this survey.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 18 December 2022
Respondents to Musk’s poll leaned heavily towards “Yes,” noting that Musk should resign after nearly an hour of voting: 58 percent of the more than 3 million votes were in favor of handing the reins to him. The survey is set to end before the stock market opens Monday morning, at a time when shares of Tesla, the source of most of Musk’s net worth, are falling. Investors say Musk’s departure from Twitter will improve Tesla’s outlook
Musk’s sudden comeback comes after Twitter said earlier in the day that accounts linked to “banned platforms” like Facebook and Instagram would be suspended “if used to promote content on another social platform,” according to the announcement. Sunday.
This policiesThe tweet, dated this month and tweeted on Sunday afternoon, says that tweets promoting accounts on some sites may be removed if users encourage their Twitter followers to join them elsewhere.
“We will remove free promotion of prohibited 3rd party social media platforms, at both the tweet level and the account level,” the policy states. It lists a few examples of such social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and Instagram. Real Socialwhich former president Donald Trump jointly established
Musk’s ownership of Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion in October, has thrown the site into disarray. Ha dismissed company executives and built a loyal team, laid off more than half of the staff, and turned down Twitter’s content control. As the owner of the site, he gave false information and was hastily made available. new and confusing changesIt sparked controversy and worried advertisers, some of whom had stopped their spending on the site.
His abrupt and sometimes arbitrary decisions have offended many of Twitter’s core users and Employeesome of its own proponents, who are also pushing the ownership offer, rely on a “freedom of expression” oriented approach.
As early as Sunday, Musk seemed to be losing the support of some on Twitter who supported his management moves because of the new policy.
George Hotz, a software developer that Musk hired to intern at the company, tweeted a link to his Instagram account Sunday night after he tweeted enthusiastically about the takeover of the business boss.
“If it’s illegal to say that, this is no longer a place I want to be. This is far from free speech,” he tweeted.
It was a long way from Musk’s mere weeks ago. issued an ultimatum He told Twitter employees that they would have to stick to an “extremely rough” pace to create the new Twitter.
“This is the attitude that builds incredible things. Let those who don’t aspire to be great go,” Hotz wrote.
Meanwhile, Twitter users criticized the suspension of Paul Graham, who praised Musk’s leadership but also promoted the Mastodon handle on Twitter, screenshots shown on the site.
“This is the last straw,” he wrote, according to screenshots posted on the site. Graham’s account was suspended shortly after.
This has mobilized numerous users, including NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. “This is bad policy and should be reversed,” he wrote in a tweet.
The moves put Musk on the defensive and appeared to be responding to backlash, a rare move for the Twitter leader since he took over in October.
“Paul’s account will be restored shortly,” he wrote in a tweet.
Twitter has cut off most of its PR team since Musk took over the company in October, and Musk didn’t respond to a list of emailed questions about the new rule earlier in the day.
Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX, has recently suspended and reinstated a number of companies. high profile journalists The person he said violated Twitter rules.
The weeks since the completion of Twitter’s sale have been turbulent for the platform as Musk fired thousands of employees while reversing many of the site’s previous policies regarding hate speech and misinformation. Hundreds of other staff check out.
The new policy, which bans links to several other social media sites, follows many prominent Twitter users promoting their alternative accounts and often expressing the idea that staying on Twitter may become untenable as Musk overhauls the platform.
On Sunday, the company’s announcement sparked a debate over whether the move would create legal challenges for Twitter.
“This is the most blatant statement of weakness I’ve ever seen from a major US tech platform, and a GC’s blatant anticompetitive statement of intent. they would set themselves on fire to avoid it (if someone did that job on Twitter),” tweeted Former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos uses the acronym for “general counsel.” He currently heads the Stanford Internet Observatory, a “research, teaching, and policy program focused on information technology abuse.” Web site.
As part of Twitter’s new policy, the promotion of Mastodon, Tribel, Post and Nostr social media sites is restricted, as well as connecting to Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social. third-party link aggregators such as linktr.ee and lnk.bio is also prohibited. Listing a social media handle without a URL is not allowed.
Twitter said the first violation of this policy could range from requiring a tweet to be deleted to temporarily locking an account. The company said an account can be suspended if the violation is in the bio or account name. Subsequent violations of the policy may result in permanent suspension.
your Twitter sudden suspension It came as one of several high-profile journalists, including one from The Washington Post last week, claimed that Musk had shared “basically the assassination coordinates” for him and his family – this tweet about the platform suspending an account using public flight data. a clear reference. To track Musk’s private plane. Twitter allowed several journalists to return to the platform on Saturday.
Musk also temporarily suspended and then reinstated a second Post reporter this weekend.
“Again, the suspension came without warning, process or explanation – this time because our reporter only asked Musk for comment on a piece of news,” Washington Post Editor-in-Chief Sally Buzbee said on Sunday. “Post journalists should be reinstated immediately, without arbitrary conditions.”
Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.
