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Elon Musk apologized and launched a poll asking whether he should step down as head of Twitter on Sunday night after the company rolled out a new policy that would suspend accounts linking to certain other platforms, a move that causing a massive backlash from individuals, including some of Musk’s own. supporters
Musk apologized after launching the policy, writing: “Going forward, there will be a vote on major policy changes. My apologies. It won’t happen again.”
He then launched a poll on Twitter, polling users on whether he should resign. Musk had respected previous polls, even though they were unscientific and unrepresentative.
“Should I resign as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” He wrote Shortly after he added: “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.”
Should I resign as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this survey.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
Respondents leaned heavily “Yes” in Musk’s poll, indicating Musk should step down, after nearly an hour of voting: 58 percent of more than 3 million votes were in favor of his resignation . The survey was due to expire Monday morning before the stock market opened, during a period when shares of Tesla, the source of much of Musk’s net worth, have plunged. Investors have said Musk stepping away from Twitter would improve Tesla’s prospects
Musk’s sudden reversal came after Twitter earlier in the day said it would begin suspending accounts linked to “prohibited platforms” such as Facebook and Instagram if those accounts “are used for the primary purpose of promoting content on another platform social,” according to the ad. sunday
The policy, dated this month and tweeted Sunday afternoon, says tweets promoting accounts on some sites can be removed if users ask their Twitter followers to join them on other sites.
“At both the tweet and account level, we will remove any free promotion from prohibited third-party social media platforms,” the policy says. He lists several examples of such social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and Truth Social, that former President Donald Trump co-founded
Musk’s ownership of Twitter, which he bought in October for $44 billion, has plunged the site into turmoil. He ousted the company’s executives and installed a team of loyalists, laid off more than half the workforce and reduced Twitter’s content moderation. He has engaged in misinformation as the site’s owner and quickly introduced new and confusing changes, causing controversy and alarming advertisers, some of whom stopped spending on the site.
His sudden and sometimes arbitrary decisions have affected many of Twitter’s top users and staff, but also some of his own followers who pushed his proprietary offering rooted in a “free speech” driven approach.
As early as Sunday, Musk appeared to be losing support from some who had backed his management moves on Twitter over the new policy.
George Hotz, a software developer whom Musk hired to intern at the company after tweeting excitedly about the business mogul’s acquisition, tweeted a link on his Instagram account Sunday night.
“If saying this is forbidden, this is no longer a place I want to be. This is far from free speech,” he wrote in a tweet.
It was a far cry from just a few weeks ago, when Musk issued an ultimatum to Twitter staff saying they would have to commit to an “extremely hard” pace to build the new Twitter.
“This is the attitude that builds incredible things. Let all the people who do not desire greatness go,” Hotz had written.
Meanwhile, Twitter users criticized the suspension of Paul Graham, who had spoken highly of Musk’s leadership but also touted his handling of Mastodon on Twitter, screenshots on the site showed.
“This is the last straw,” he wrote, according to screenshots posted on the site. Graham’s account was suspended soon after.
This prompted hordes of users, including NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, to intervene. “This is bad policy and should be reversed,” he wrote in a tweet.
The moves put Musk on the defensive, and he appeared to respond to the backlash, a rare move for the Twitter leader since he took over in October.
“Paul’s account will be restored soon,” he wrote in a tweet.
Twitter has cut most of its PR team since Musk took over the company in October, and Musk did not respond to an emailed list of questions about the new rule earlier in the day. .
Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX, recently suspended and reinstated a slew of high-profile journalists who he said had violated Twitter’s rules.
Musk suspends some reporters on Twitter. But his companies never left.
The weeks since the sale of Twitter was finalized have been tumultuous for the platform, with Musk rolling back many of the site’s previous policies on hate speech and misinformation while laying off thousands of employees. Hundreds of other staff have quit.
The new policy banning links to other social media sites follows many prominent Twitter users promoting their alternative accounts, often expressing the view that staying on Twitter may become unsustainable as Musk overhauls the platform.
On Sunday, the company’s announcement sparked a debate over whether the move could create legal challenges for Twitter.
“This is the clearest statement of weakness I have ever seen from a major US technology platform, and a transparent statement of anti-competitive intent that a GC they’d be on fire to prevent (if someone had that job at Twitter),” tweeted former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos, using an abbreviation for “general counsel.” He now heads the Stanford Internet Observatory, “a research, teaching, and policy program focused on information technology abuse,” according to its website.
In addition to linking to Facebook, Instagram, and Truth Social, promotion of social media sites Mastodon, Tribel, Post, and Nostr is restricted by Twitter’s new policy. Third party link aggregators like linktr.ee and lnk.bio are also prohibited. Including a social media handle without a URL is not allowed.
Twitter said that a first violation of this policy can range from demanding the removal of a tweet to temporarily blocking an account. An account can be suspended if the violation is found in the account’s bio or name, the company said. Subsequent violations of the policy may result in permanent suspension.
Twitter’s abrupt suspension of several high-profile journalists last week, including one from The Washington Post, came as Musk claimed they had shared “basically assassination coordinates” for him and his family, a reference apparent in tweets about the suspension of a platform account using public flight data to track Musk’s private jet. Twitter allowed several of the journalists to return to the platform on Saturday.
Musk also temporarily suspended, then reinstated, a second Post reporter this weekend.
“Once again, the suspension came without any warning, process or explanation, this time because our reporter only sought comment from Musk for a story,” Washington Post Executive Editor Sally Buzbee said. , in a statement on Sunday. “The post-journalists should be reinstated immediately, without arbitrary conditions.”
Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.