In light of a recent poll demanding his resignation as Twitter CEO, Tesla and Space X magnate Elon Musk has pledged to respect the outcome of the vote.

During the night, Musk posted a message on Twitter in which said “When should I resign as Twitter’s CEO? The outcome of this survey shall be respected.” At present, approximately 16 million people have participated in the survey, with 57.4 percent in favour of his resignation.

A very contentious new policy about connection to other social networking platforms was discarded after public protest, and the statistics indicate that more than 9 million people have asked for Musk to resign as a result.

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.December 18, 2022

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One hell of a day

While Musk was at the World Cup Final on Sunday, Twitter Support announced a contentious new policy that threatens to remove users who publish URLs or usernames for competing social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and the up-and-coming competitor Mastodon.

To my knowledge, Twitter has said nothing regarding TikTok connections. Twitter recently announced that it will no longer allow Linktree links in profiles.

Creators of content that rely on reaching new audiences across many social media channels have reacted negatively to the new approach. Bad Brain Digital Consulting’s CEO Bailey Carlin warned Musk, “It’s going to hobble creators/social managers.” You campaigned on a promise to improve conditions for creators, yet your stance would harm them, the speaker stated.

Musk spent many hours passionately defending his proposals, adding more confusion to the question of what would and would not be permitted under the new guidelines. Casual link sharing is great, but not free, constant promotion of competitors, he argued. Twitter, however, has declared in its own tweets that it will delete “material that incorporates links or usernames” to the infringing websites.

Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, criticised the decision as “simply sad.” According to Musk, the policy may be changing because of valid complaints that the regulations are too stringent. He continued, saying that the rules will be changed so that “accounts would be suspended only when that account’s primary aim was promotion of competitors, which effectively comes under the no spam rule.” He apologised for the fiasco and promised it wouldn’t happen again, and he assured that, going ahead, “there will be a vote on big policy changes.”

However, the insanity continued when Musk, shortly after polling his Twitter followers on whether or not he should resign as CEO, said he would respect the findings. As was mentioned, about 60% of the votes had been cast in favour of his dismissal. If you’re going to keep doing something like this, then absolutely, said MrBeast, YouTube’s most popular creator, quoting the controversial new rule.

Also concerning for Twitter is Musk’s claim that “there is no succession” for the post of CEO and that no one is interested in the roles even though they are necessary to keep the company going. After mentioning that Twitter is “on the fast lane to bankruptcy since May,” he then moved on to other topics.

The future of Twitter is quite uncertain in light of the poll results, Musk’s evident intention to comply with those findings, and the possibility of no successor. Since Musk’s widespread layoffs, this is the closest we’ve come to Twitter suddenly collapsing, with former employees saying the platform might break irrevocably at any time.

This latest instance is just one example of important policy changes that haven’t come to fruition following opposition, which has contributed to Twitter’s rapid decline from one of the greatest iPhone social networking applications available to something of a dumpster fire under Musk’s tenure.