On December 19, Elon Musk asked Twitter users whether he should step down as head of the social media site.
Putting up a poll on his official handle, he asked the question, “Should I step down as head of Twitter?”. He further said that he would follow the election results.
6,192,394 votes were polled in about half an hour. Over 57.6 per cent users answered ‘yes’ and 42.4 per cent clicked ‘no’.
In another tweet, he also told users that, “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.”
Since Musk took over the micro-blogging site, he has been criticized for a number of changes he has made to the company, including sacking more than half the staff and allowing back previously barred users.
Most recently, he was criticized for banning several accounts of journalists for “doxing” their location, including prominent journalists at The Washington Post, CNN and others. The European Union also warned Musk that Twitter could be subject to sanctions under future media legislation. On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply troubled” by Elon Musk’s suspension of journalists from Twitter, calling it a dangerous precedent.
“We at Twitter are deeply troubled by the arbitrary suspension of journalists’ accounts,” Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said during a press briefing.
He said that the voices of the media should not be silenced on the platform claiming freedom of expression. A UN spokesman said the move sets a dangerous precedent at a time when journalists around the world face censorship, physical threats and worse.
After severe public backlash, the accounts were reinstated.
In a recent update, Twitter users will no longer be able to link to certain rival social media websites, including what the company described on Sunday as “prohibited platforms” including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon.
It’s the latest move by Twitter’s new owner to crack down on some speech after shutting down a Twitter account that tracked his private jet flights last week.
“We know that many of our users may be active on other social media platforms; However, going forward, Twitter will no longer allow free promotion of specific social media platforms on Twitter,” the company said in a statement.
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