Elon Musk asks Twitter to vote on whether he should step down

Musk runs a Twitter poll on his leadership after backlash to new policy banning ‘free promotion’ of other platforms.

Elon Musk has asked Twitter users to vote on whether he should step down as head of the social media platform, following a backlash over the company’s latest controversial policy change.

“Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” Musk tweeted on Sunday.

“As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it,” Musk added in a later tweet.

As of early Monday morning, the poll had nearly received 10.5 million votes, with users voting 56.3-43.7 percent for Musk to go.

Musk’s poll came after Twitter’s announcement that it would no longer allow the “free promotion” of other social media platforms sparked a backlash among users.

In the latest controversial policy change, Twitter said in a statement on Sunday that users would no longer be allowed to post usernames and links to accounts for a number of other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon.

The move was the latest in a series of decisions by Twitter to generate blowback, after the suspension last week of more than half a dozen journalists who report on Musk.

Musk, who also runs Tesla and several other startups, suspended the journalists after accusing the media of endangering his family by disclosing information about his location.

Musk made the claim after revising the site’s doxxing rules to ban accounts that track private aircraft, including his private jet.

Flight tracking data collected by the United States Federal Aviation Administration is public information and shared online by private websites such as FlightAware and Flightradar24.

Twitter over the weekend reinstated most of the suspended accounts after Musk asked users to vote on lifting the suspensions immediately or in seven days.

Since taking over Twitter in a $44bn deal in October, Musk has become a lightning rod for debate around free speech, online safety and the role of social media in democracy.

Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, has pledged to open up the platform to a greater diversity of views and tackle what he has characterised as the site’s liberal bias.

Critics have accused Musk of allowing hate speech to flourish on the platform and censoring criticism he does not like.