Twitter CEO Elon Musk has once again gone ahead with a poll on Twitter, this time asking whether or not he should step down as the head of the company that he acquired in October in a USD 44 billion deal.
"I will abide by the results of this poll," he wrote on Twitter. At 3 pm (IST), the tweet had amassed 16,098,545 votes.
This came barely a month after Musk told Delaware court that he would reduce his time at Twitter and find a new boss to run the social media company.
Musk has actively been using his Twitter handle to announce policy changes, make cryptic remarks and polls asking people their opinions on things like the reinstation of banned accounts.
Be it restoring former US President Donald Trump's Twitter handle or banning accounts of journalists whom he accused of 'doxxing', Musk has relied on Twitter polls. Here's a look at how Musk used Twitter polls for major decisions while being company CEO:
Poll to unban journalists accused of 'doxxing'
Last week several journalists from news organisations like CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post were banned from Twitter for "violating" Twitter's privacy policy. These journalists had been covering Musk and were accused of doxxing. "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not," he wrote on Twitter after the journalists were banned.
However, a day later, he launched a poll on Twitter asking when he should restore the banned Twitter handles of the journalists and gave out four options--now, tomorrow, seven days from now and longer.
Less than an hour later, he launched another poll asking the same question, this time with just two options-- now and seven days. He said the previous poll had "too many options".
While the ban evoked criticism, the journalists' accounts were restored on Saturday. "The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now," Musk tweeted later, implying that he reinstated the Twitter handles following people's vote on his poll.
Restoring Trump's Twitter handle
On November 19, Musk announced Trump would return to Twitter after he organised a poll asking the netizens if his account should be restored. A little over 51% of the votes, out of over 15 million votes, went in favor of Trump.
"The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei," Musk said in another tweet announcing Trump's return to Twitter, though Trump later said he had no interest in returning to the social media platform.
Trump, who had over 88 million followers on Twitter, was "permanently" banned from the platform in early 2021 for his alleged role in the January 6 Capitol riots. Twitter had then said that Trump's tweets had the potential to incite violence.
Almost a month since his account was restored, Trump hasn't tweeted anything yet.
Musk's 'bot' dig
Before acquiring Twitter, Musk took digs at the social media giant for having "bot accounts". In August, he launched a poll asking if less than 5% of Twitter daily users were fake. Over 64% of the votes said "Lmaooo no", while another 35% agreed.
He reiterated his stand in September when said 90% of the replies to his tweets were bots. "And 90% of my comments are bots," he said in a tweet.
Conflict resolution between Russia and Ukraine
Musk faced criticism in October after he launched a Twitter poll suggesting conflict resolution between Ukraine and Russia. "The will of the people who live in the Donbas & Crimea should decide whether they're part of Russia or Ukraine," he asked in the poll.
"Russia is doing partial mobilization. They go to full war mobilization if Crimea is at risk. Death on both sides will be devastating. Russia has >3 times the population of Ukraine, so victory for Ukraine is unlikely in total war. If you care about the people of Ukraine, seek peace," he said in a further tweet.
Ukrainian President slammed Musk and posted a retaliatory poll asking people which Musk they liked more--the one who supports Ukraine or the one who supports Russia.