Elon Musk’s Twitter poll says he should 'step down as chief executive'

A majority of Twitter users believes that its new head Elon Musk should step down. Musk had launched a poll on the platform on Sunday asking users if he should step down as head of Twitter and said that he would honour the result. There were 17,502,391 votes in total. As per the vote results, 57% were in favour of him stepping down and 43% said that he shouldn’t.   

The billionaire, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October wrote: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.”    

The move comes after a backlash to a new policy banning the promotion of accounts on rival platforms. The microblogging site announced a new policy banning users from sharing links to their accounts on rival platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, as well as emerging Twitter rival Mastodon, Tribel, Nostr and Post, among others. 

“Twitter should be easy to use, but no more relentless free advertising of competitors. No traditional publisher allows this and neither will Twitter,” Musk said on the platform.   

However, the policy sparked immediate criticism from Musk’s detractors and even some of his high-profile Silicon Valley allies for being too restrictive. He then responded by saying that the policy would be “adjusted” so that suspensions would only apply “when that account’s primary purpose is promotion of competitors”.  

In a separate tweet, he wrote: “Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again.”   

Twitter has been on a rollercoaster ride since Musk completed the purchase on October 27. The company laid-off over half of its employees only days after he took the charge.

Read more: Timeline: Elon Musk’s key decisions in his first month in-charge of Twitter

Last week, the social network also suspended accounts of several journalists. Some of the notable names include Donie O'Sullivan from CNN, Drew Harwell from the Washington Post, Ryan Mac from The New York Times, Aaron Rupar from The Independent, Voice of America correspondent Steve Herman and commentator Keith Olbermann. Twitter cited violation of policies as the reason behind this suspension.