Millions of Twitter users have voted 'Yes' to Elon Musk's Twitter poll on whether he should step down as the CEO of the micro-blogging platform. The results come a few days after Musk deleted an earlier poll where the majority of respondents voted for him to immediately restore the Twitter accounts of several journalists who were suspended from the platform for allegedly revealing his location — an allegation the suspended journalists denied.
Late on Sunday, Musk started a poll asking Twitter users whether he should step down as the CEO. When the poll closed on Monday, more than 17.5 million people had voted, with 57.5 percent of respondents voting 'Yes' and 42.5 percent voting 'No.' Musk also promised to abide by the results of the poll, but with the vote not going his way, he is already insisting that there's no apparent successor in sight to take over the job. Replying to one user, Musk said, "No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor."
Will Musk Resign As Twitter CEO?
Musk is the majority owner of Twitter following a $44 billion takeover deal in late October. The deal made Twitter a privately-held company, meaning no one can force Musk to resign from his post. However, the string of bizarre decisions and flip-flops on critical actions have alienated even some of his most ardent backers. One of them is venture capitalist Paul Graham, who last month lambasted Musk's critics for unfairly criticizing the Tesla CEO.
However, following the latest developments, Graham seems to have changed his views on Musk. Over the weekend, Graham said that the banning of the journalists was the "last straw" that was forcing him to leave Twitter for Mastodon. His account was suspended for the post in accordance with Twitter's now-defunct rule about not allowing the promotion of rival social networks. Just days earlier, Musk also banned the Twitter accounts of several users for tracking his live location, even though it was done using publicly-available data.
Ever since Musk took over Twitter, the company has moved from one crisis to another. It started on day one when Musk fired many of the top executives in the company. Nearly 50 percent of the company's workforce was let go shortly after, in a decision that was meant to cut costs for the loss-making company. A few days later, he issued an ultimatum to the remaining employees, asking them to work 'extremely hardcore' if they want to keep their jobs. Musk also recently converted conference rooms at the Twitter HQ in San Francisco into bedrooms for employees to sleep in at night. In this ongoing saga, people are now waiting on word to see if the Twitter CEO will abide by the results of the poll and resign from his position.