Twitter users say Elon Musk should step down as boss

Elon Musk has remained silent on his continued leadership of Twitter.

The billionaire had asked his Twitter users on Sunday whether he should step down as leader of the social media site. More than 17 million votes were cast and delivered a clear verdict: 57.5% said he should quit, in a Twitter “poll” that ended after 12 p.m. Monday.

Mr. Musk had said he would respect the results of the vote. But hours after voting closed, there was no acknowledgment from Mr Musk on Twitter.

If he follows through, Mr. Musk will hand over the reins of the company he bought for $44 billion at the end of October. The turbulent weeks that followed were marked by mass layoffs across the company, declining ad sales, executive resignations, and the suspension of various high-profile user accounts for violations of a newly invented policy.

On Sunday, Twitter announced a policy to prevent users from sharing links and usernames from other social platforms, like Instagram, Facebook and Mastodon, then apparently restricted the same policy.

But for some users, including former supporters of Mr Musk, the chaotic weekend was a breaking point.

Mr Musk’s latest actions with Twitter have been “the last straw”, Paul Graham, founder of start-up accelerator Y Combinator, tweeted on Sunday. Mr Graham had backed Mr Musk’s takeover, but on Sunday he wrote: ‘I give up. You can find a link to my new Mastodon profile on my site. His account was briefly suspended.

Twitter last week suspended about two dozen accounts that tracked the locations of private planes, including one that tracked Mr. Musk’s private jet, justifying the decision with a new policy that banned accounts if they shared the “location live” from another person. The accounts of some journalists from the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and other outlets were also suspended last week, reportedly under the same policy, then reinstated after Mr. Musk asked users to s ‘they had to be allowed back on the platform. Fifty-nine percent answered yes, in a Twitter “poll” with 3.7 million votes.

After asking users if he should stay on as the head of Twitter, Mr. Musk said in another tweet: “No one wants the job that can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.

There are signs that Mr. Musk’s ownership and focus on Twitter is interfering with his other business ventures. Since Mr. Musk acquired Twitter, Tesla’s value has plummeted. The automaker’s share price was $225 on Oct. 27, the day Mr. Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter. On Friday, shares of Tesla closed at $150.

Last week, Mr Musk revealed he had sold an additional $3.6 billion worth of Tesla stock. This year, Mr. Musk has sold $23 billion worth of Tesla stock, much of it after pledging in April to stop selling shares to fund his Twitter deal.

“The focus on Twitter instead of Tesla’s golden child has been another big deal for investors and is likely behind this poll result, with many Musk loyalists wanting him to leave as than CEO of Twitter,” wrote analysts Daniel Ives and John Katsingris of Wedbush Securities. a note posted shortly before voting closed on Twitter.

Mr Musk’s resignation from Twitter would be ‘a big step forward’, they added, with the billionaire finally realizing there was ‘growing frustration around this Twitter nightmare that is getting worse by the day’ .

Tesla shares ended the day largely unchanged on Monday, trading just below $150.