Technology

Elon Musk polls users about stepping down as head of Twitter

Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, on March 9, 2020.

Twitter owner Elon Musk posted a poll on Sunday asking users whether he should step down as the head of Twitter amid a slew of controversies surrounding the popular social media platform. 

“Should I step down as head of Twitter?,” Musk wrote in a tweet.

“I will abide by the results of this poll,” he added.

As of Sunday, about 58 percent of Twitter users had voted for Musk to step down, while 42 percent wanted him to stay. The poll is set to expire early Monday morning.

“As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it,” Musk jokingly tweeted after posting the poll. 

Musk took Twitter private with his multibillion-dollar purchase of the company earlier this year, proceeding to fire most of its executives and dissolve its board of directors. He still owes billions of dollars to creditors who helped fund the purchase.

The poll came amid the latest uproar over his mercurial handling of the platform, in response to a new policy prohibiting users from promoting other social media platforms on Twitter. Earlier this week, Musk suspended accounts of tech journalists who have covered him critically.

The 51-year-old CEO also tweeted that moving forward, polls will be taken to decide on major company policies in the future. 

“My apologies. Won’t happen again,” he wrote of making such changes before polling users.

After suspending the journalists, Musk lifted the bans after conducted a poll in which 59 percent of Twitter users called for those accounts to be restored immediately.

The new restrictions on promoting other social platforms come as many liberal Twitter users struggle to find an alternative.