Greater than half of 17.5 million Twitter customers who responded to a ballot that requested whether or not Elon Musk ought to step down as head of the social media platform voted in favor of him doing so, in accordance with outcomes posted Monday morning.
Some 57.5% of them voted “Sure,” whereas 42.5% voted “No” towards Musk stepping down as chief of the micro-blogging platform after the billionaire launched the ballot on his Twitter account Sunday.
Neither Twitter or Musk instantly responded publicly about whether or not Musk would step down, however the Tesla and SpaceX CEO initially said that he would abide by the outcomes.
In the meantime, scores of customers gave the impression to be awaiting his response with baited breath.
“So…Bye?” one user posted.
“Does not imply instantly proper? Might be 3, 6, 9 months from now,” one other requested.
The transfer asking customers for his or her opinion comes on the heels of Musk clashing with some customers on a number of fronts, together with him acknowledging he made a mistake in launching new speech restrictions that banned mentions of rival social media web sites.
In one more important coverage change, Twitter had introduced that customers will not be capable of hyperlink to Fb, Instagram, Mastodon and different platforms the corporate described as “prohibited.”
The choice generated a lot rapid criticism, together with from previous defenders of Musk, that he promised to not make any extra main coverage modifications with out a web-based survey of customers.
The motion to dam rivals was Musk’s newest try and crack down on sure speech after he shut down a Twitter account final week that was monitoring the flights of his non-public jet.
Banned platforms included Fb, Instagram, and newly created rivals Mastodon, Tribel, Nostr, Submit and former President Donald Trump’s Fact Social. Twitter gave no rationalization for why the blacklist included these seven web sites however not others corresponding to Parler, TikTok or LinkedIn.
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Twitter had stated it could not less than briefly droop accounts that embody the banned web sites of their profile a apply so widespread it could have been tough to implement the restrictions on Twitter’s hundreds of thousands of customers around the globe. Not solely hyperlinks however makes an attempt to bypass the ban by spelling out “instagram dot com” might have led to a suspension, the corporate stated.
A check case was the distinguished enterprise capitalist Paul Graham, who up to now has praised Musk however on Sunday advised his 1.5 million Twitter followers that this was the “final straw” and to search out him on Mastodon. His Twitter account was promptly suspended, and shortly after restored as Musk promised to reverse the coverage applied simply hours earlier.
Musk stated Twitter will nonetheless droop some accounts in accordance with the coverage however “solely when that account’s (asterisk)major(asterisk) goal is promotion of rivals.”
Twitter beforehand took motion to dam hyperlinks to Mastodon after its important Twitter account tweeted concerning the @ElonJet controversy final week.
Mastodon has grown quickly in latest weeks as a substitute for Twitter customers who’re sad with Musk’s overhaul of Twitter since he purchased the corporate for $44 billion in late October and commenced restoring accounts that ran afoul of the earlier Twitter management’s guidelines towards hateful conduct and different harms.
That social community, which has gained greater than 1 million new customers since Oct. 27, now hosts 1.9 million month-to-month lively customers, in accordance with the Mastodon web site.
In comparability, Twitter had greater than 237 million every day lively customers in the quarter ending June 30, the corporate stated in July. Customers had been up 16.6% in comparison with a 12 months in the past.
‘Assassination coordinates’
Final week, Musk banned the @ElonJet account then modified Twitter’s guidelines to ban the sharing of one other particular person’s present location with out their consent. He then took goal at journalists who had been writing concerning the jet-tracking account, which may nonetheless be discovered on different social media websites, claiming they had been broadcasting “mainly assassination coordinates.”
He additionally droop accounts of voluminous journalists who cowl Twitter together with reporters working for CNN, The New York Instances, and The Washington Submit. A lot of these accounts had been restored following a web-based ballot by Musk.
Over the weekend, The Washington Submit’s Taylor Lorenz turned the newest journalist to be briefly banned. She stated she was suspended after posting a message on Twitter tagging Musk and requesting an interview.
The paper’s govt editor, Sally Buzbeecalled it an “arbitrary suspension of one other Submit journalist” that additional undermined Musk’s promise to run Twitter as a platform devoted to free speech.
The promise to let customers resolve his future position at Twitter by an unscientific on-line survey appeared to come back out of nowhere Sunday, although Musk had additionally promised in November a reorganization was taking place quickly.
Musk was questioned in courtroom on Nov. 16 about how he splits his time amongst his firms. Musk needed to testify in Delaware’s Courtroom of Chancery over a shareholder’s problem to Musk’s probably $55 billion compensation plan as CEO of the electrical automobile firm.
Musk stated he by no means meant to be CEO of Tesla, and that he didn’t wish to be chief govt of another firms both, preferring to see himself as an engineer as a substitute. Musk additionally stated he anticipated an organizational restructuring of Twitter to be accomplished within the subsequent week or so. It’s been greater than a month since he stated that.
In public banter with Twitter followers Sunday, Musk expressed pessimism concerning the prospects for a brand new CEO, saying that particular person “should like ache quite a bit” to run an organization that “has been within the quick lane to chapter.”
“Nobody desires the job who can truly maintain Twitter alive. There is no such thing as a successor,” Musk tweeted.
Contributing: Related Press writers Matt O’Brien and Brian P. D. Hannon.
