Elon Musk asked Twitter users Sunday night whether he should remain CEO of the platform and vowed to “abide by the results.” The answer was a resounding “no.”
Over 17 million Twitter users responded to Musk’s question, “Should I step down as head of Twitter?” with 57.5 percent voting in favor of his departure and 42.5 percent opposing it. Shortly after the results were known, Musk followed up with another tweet: “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it.”
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
Since Musk took over the social media giant in October, he has repeatedly turned to public polls to gauge user support for reforms and immediately implemented whatever course of action the majority supported.
In late November, Musk asked Twitter users whether they favored reinstating former president Donald Trump, who was permanently banned from the platform for violating the company’s guidelines in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riots.
In a much narrower vote that drew over 15 million online ballots, Twitter users voted to bring Trump back by a margin of 51.8 percent in favor to 48.2 percent against. Although Musk reactivated the former president’s account, Trump has yet to return and has stayed active on his own social-media platform, Truth Social.
Reinstate former President Trump
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2022
Musk has so far lived up to his public polls. Asking users last week if he should reinstate accounts that “doxxed my exact location in real time,” Musk abided by the majority opinion.
Since taking over the social-media giant two months ago, Musk has ushered in massive changes in a desperate attempt to make the company sustainably profitable. Among his first moves as Twitter CEO was slashing roughly half the existing workforce.
In recent weeks, Musk has collaborated with journalists including Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi to clarify Twitter’s former content moderation policies. The “Twitter Files,” as they have come to be known, revealed that the social-media platform did, in fact, blacklist and censor conservative voices as well as collaborate with federal agencies.