CNN
—
Twitter owner Elon Musk confirmed on Tuesday evening that he would step down as the company’s CEO, but only when he named a successor, making a direct appeal to millions of users voting for his ouster in a Twitter poll he created this week for the first time.
One tweetMusk said he will “resign as soon as he finds someone stupid enough to take the job!”
He added that after he steps down as CEO, Musk will “lead the software and server teams” at Twitter, suggesting he may continue to have significant influence over the company’s decision-making.
The announcement comes after more than a day of silence following the survey results. On Monday, after more than 17 million users voted — 57.5% of whom said Musk should resign — the billionaire executive addressed the results only indirectly. He suggested that future Twitter surveys may be restricted to paid users of Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service.
Musk’s request from users on whether he should resign as CEO came after a massive backlash on Twitter. the sudden suspension of several journalists who covers it as well as Twitter’s decision banning links to other social media platforms and then unbanning them Twitter’s fast-growing rival, including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon, has taken a nosedive in size since October.
Musk’s short tenure as CEO has seen sweeping, sometimes volatile changes at one of the world’s most influential social media companies.
He has Twitter under his leadership was fired most of its employees, alienated major advertiserswelcomed former president Donald Trump return to the platform After ceasing to operate after January. 6 Capitol riots and released internal communications to reporters about Twitter’s operations before Musk took ownership of the company.
Musk forced the remaining employees to buy pledge to be “extremely strict” in their work and stopped applying Twitter’s policy against Covid-19 disinformation.
Within a few days, Twitter was up and running and then forced to turn on the paid verification feature. immediately manipulated with satirical accounts impersonating major brands, athletes and other public figures endorsed on the platform.
Musk’s tendency to make major product changes based on informal Twitter polls underscored his ad hoc and improvisational management style. But this approach has led to growing criticism from many Twitter users. Last week, Twitter suspended several journalists who reported that it had permanently banned an account that tracked Musk’s plane.
The growing criticism of the mask resulted in a poll on Sunday.
