Twitter users voted for Elon Musk to resign as chief executive of the platform. He likes to quote the Latin phrase “vox populi, vox dei”, which roughly translates to “the voice of the people is the voice of God”. He loves to quote the Latin phrase “vox populi vox dei”, which roughly translates to “the voice of God is the voice of the people”. Should I resign as CEO of Twitter? I will abide to the results of this survey. – Elon Musk (@elonmusk), December 18, 2022
The BBC is not responsible to the content of external websites. A former Twitter employee said that Mr Musk was “showing his incompetence as the fool we all knew him to be”. They spoke on condition of anonymity and added: “His investors will surely be looking at this now and questioning if he was the right horse. “I believe he’s under pressure from investors to resign and is using this poll as a way to make it appear that he’s following his will instead of the will to pay his bills. There have been many controversial changes at Twitter since Musk purchased the social media platform. After firing half of the staff, he tried to roll out Twitter’s paid for verification feature before it was put on pause. Last week, the feature was relaunched. The feature was relaunched last week. He added: “Those who want to be in power are those who least deserve it.”
Timeline: Musk’s Twitter takeover turbulent
‘Chief Twit’ takes control
27 October 2022
Musk’s $44bn (or 38.1bn) acquisition of Twitter ends. He immediately fired a number of top executives at the company and tweeted “the bird has been freed”.
Musk took over the company’s official Twitter account by changing his Twitter name to “Chief Twit” before he arrived at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco with a sink and said: “Let that sink in!”
Platform battles ‘trolling campaign’
29 October
Twitter’s trust and safety head stated that hateful behavior has no place in the company after a spike in racist tweets. Yoel Roth stated that the company is taking steps against users “involved with this trolling campaign” in order to make Twitter safer and more welcoming for all.
Musk shares an inaccurate story
30 October
Musk tweets an article that contains a lot of incorrect information about an attack by a hammer-wielding intrusion on Nancy Pelosi, the husband of US House of Representatives Speaker. Musk later deleted the tweet following a backlash. The site has a history publishing inaccurate stories.
Trump’s return is canceled – at least for now
31 October
Just over a week remains before the US midterm elections. Musk answers questions about whether he will reinstate former president Donald Trump’s Twitter account. He tweeted: “If I had one dollar for every person who asked me if Trump is returning to this platform, Twitter could be making money!”
Musk later that day attended a Halloween party in New York, where he posed for photographs in a “Devil’s champion” costume.
Criticism over subscription service
1 November
Musk responded to criticisms from Stephen King, author of Twitter’s Verified Accounts Charge, saying: “We have to pay the bills somehow!” “.
Musk makes moves to reduce staff numbers
4 November
The company’s employees begin to receive emails entitled “Your Role @ Twitter”, informing them if they have lost their jobs. Musk responded to the news of layoffs by saying that “unfortunately there’s no choice when the company loses over $4M/day”.
Yoel Roth, head of trust and security, stated that 50% of the company’s nearly 8000 employees had been laid off, but he wanted to reassure advertisers and users that the platform’s moderation capacity was still intact.
Twitter founder breaks silence
5 November
Ex-CEO and co-founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey, Jack Dorsey broke his silence about the Musk takeover to apologize to employees who lost their jobs. He said: “I have the responsibility for why everyone’s in this situation: I grew too quickly the company.”
Crackdown on parody accounts
6 November
Musk announced that Twitter accounts that impersonate people without being clearly labelled as parody will be permanently suspended. This is a change from the previous process where accounts were first warned.
Numerous accounts that mocked Musk and changed their names to “Elon Musk”, were already suspended or placed behind a warning sign.
Warnings about Twitter’s Survival
9 November
Musk sent his first email to Twitter staff warning them that the “economic picture” ahead is “dreadful”. He also added: “Without significant subscriber revenue, there is a good possibility Twitter will not survive this economic downturn.”
After the launch of the $8-a month Twitter Blue subscription, which gives paying customers a blue tick for their money, a number of parody accounts that appear verified have emerged, including one that tweets: “I miss shooting Iraqis”. Within days, the service was paused.
Company fires key staff
10 November
Higher-profile staff have resigned, including Yoel Roth, head of trust and security, and Lea Kissner chief security officer.
Musk reduces contractor costs
12 November
According to US media reports, thousands of contractors who worked for Twitter had their contracts terminated. Platformer, a technology news site, reports that up to 80% of its 5,500 contractors were laid off in the move. However, the company did not make an official announcement.
Staff were told by the staff: Be hardcore, or leave
16 November
Musk sent a late-night email out to all Twitter employees, advising them to adopt a culture of hard work and “long hours at high intensity” otherwise they will be fired.
Offices of company abruptly close
17 November
Twitter has announced that its offices will be temporarily closed in a surprise announcement. This announcement comes amid reports that many Twitter employees had resigned.
Musk tweeted to address fears that the platform would close due to losing key staff members: “The best people remain, so I’m really not worried.”
Twitter Blue relaunched
12 December
Twitter Blue, the paid-for verification service, has been relaunched. It’s still $8 per month, but Twitter increases it to $11 for users of the app on Apple devices. Musk said that he is upset by the commission Apple charges for in-app purchases.
Suspensions for location “doxxing”
15 December
Musk claims he will sue the owner of the @ElonJet account on Twitter, claiming that it tracks his private jet and puts his son at risk.
He also suspended the accounts of reporters from CNN, New York Times, and Washington Post, claiming that they had shared his location.
After condemnation by the UN, threats of sanctions from European Union and a Twitter poll Musk lifted the suspension for journalists’ accounts, declaring that “the people have spoken”. The @ElonJet account is still suspended.
Twitter users vote for Musk’s resignation
18 December
After Musk ran a poll about his future, Twitter users voted for Musk to step down as its chief executive. He promised he would “abide” by the results.
Millions voted with 57.5% of them saying “yes”.
Twitter announced earlier on Sunday that it would close down accounts solely used to promote other social media platforms. Later, Musk tweeted that major policy changes would be put to the vote. The web page that outlines the policy towards other social media platforms seems to have disappeared. Mr Musk later tweeted that major policy changes would be voted on in the future. “Elon Musk abandoned Tesla and Tesla doesn’t have a working CEO.” Tesla needs and deserves a working CEO,” Elon Musk tweeted. December 18, 2022, Elon Musk (@elonmusk).
The BBC is not responsible to the content of external websites. View the original tweet on TwitterMr Ives stated that he believed Musk had realized that he “cannot balance being the boss of Twitter and his SpaceX and Tesla rocket firms. “The greatest problem is the more controversy he creates advertisers leave and they run to the hills and that’s 90% revenue for Twitter,” he said. Russ Mould, investment director of AJ Bell, stated that Tesla investors would be “closely monitoring” Mr Musk’s poll. He said that Musk’s Twitter tenure has been a distraction and that Tesla shareholders would be relieved if he quits Twitter and returned to his day job at Tesla. Musk seems to spend a lot time on social media for someone who places so much importance on work ethics. Musk must get back to his main business, as Tesla shares have more than halved in the past year. “Tesla’s share prices rose by nearly 3% to $154 per share on the US stock market in early trading Monday. The shares have seen a 60% drop in value over the past year.