The one we called the “king of technology” is about to fall apart? In a poll published Saturday night on his own network, Elon Musk asked netizens, “Should I leave Twitter running?” Their answer is unequivocal: “for” 57.5% of more than 17 million voters for his departure.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will stick to the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
“I will stick to the results of this poll,” he promised. However, the 51-year-old entrepreneur did not immediately react. In a conversation with one of his Twitter followers, Elon Musk assured that he has no designated successor. In another post, he said that the platform is “on track for bankruptcy.”
Criticism after criticism
This survey is taking place in an extremely tense context. Indeed, Twitter announced on Sunday that it would no longer be able to post links to competing networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon or Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social network. It is now illegal to tweet a message like, “Thank you for following me @Identifier on Instagram,” the platform said.
After the $44 billion takeover of Twitter, the Tesla and SpaceX boss caused a lot of controversy when he fired half of Twitter’s employees, reinstating suspended accounts, including that of Donald Trump. Or try to launch a new paid subscription: eight dollars a month for users who want their account to be certified as genuine and less exposed to advertising. Decisions that caused confusion among Internet users and, in particular, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who very simply tweeted “Why?”.
Last week, Elon Musk deleted and then restored the accounts of several American journalists from CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post in particular, prompting a reaction from the European Union and the United Nations. The vice-president of the European Commission even threatened the entrepreneur with sanctions.
The multi-billionaire first blocked @elonjet on Wednesday, the account that automatically reported his private jet travel, and then the account of the journalists who tweeted about the decision, accusing them of putting his family at risk. They were reinstated on Saturday, but some said they were told to remove certain messages if they wanted to take full advantage of the platform.
These controversial decisions and these disagreements affect the turnover of the company. “From a failed subscription plan to a journalist ban to daily political wrangling, it was an all-out storm as advertisers fled, leaving Twitter to run its deficit,” said Wedbush.Securities analyst Dan Ives, who assesses the company’s potential. losses of $4 billion a year.
Twitter’s failures aren’t the only black spot on the billionaire’s chart. Elon Musk is also under pressure from Tesla’s board of directors to let go of the reins of Twitter and refocus on the electric car maker, whose shares, according to investment adviser Gary Black, have fallen more than 33% since the acquisition of the social network. “These numbers are hard to ignore,” the investment advisor tweeted.
However, the billionaire will no longer be able to play by the rules, as now. Indeed, European Commissioner Thierry Breton announced on Twitter on Monday that the Digital Services Act will enter into force no later than September 1, 2023. “Platforms cannot continue to change policy,” he tweeted, targeting several social media platforms, including Twitter.