Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Elon Musk Brian Lawless/PA Images

Future policy-related polls will only be open for Twitter Blue subscribers, Musk indicates

Twitter Blue is a paid-for subscription which allows anyone to buy a blue tick verified badge for their account.

ELON MUSK HAS said only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to vote in future policy-related polls on the platform in his first comments since millions of users voted for him to step down as chief executive of the site.

On Sunday, the Tesla boss said he would “abide by” the result of a poll, which he created, asking Twitter users whether he should step down.

The result was confirmed yesterday morning, with 57.5% of the more than 17.5 million accounts that voted saying he should withdraw from his role.

Normally a prolific user of the platform, Musk did not tweet in the immediate hours following the poll.

His silence was finally broken just before 11.30pm, when he responded “interesting” to a suggestion from Kim Dotcom, founder of the once wildly popular file-sharing website Megaupload, that the results of the poll were skewed by fake accounts.

Replying to another user’s suggestion that “Blue subscribers should be the only ones that can vote in policy related polls”, Musk said: “Good point. Twitter will make that change.”

His Twitter stream continued into the early hours of this morning, linking to the site’s World Cup statistics and laughing at a satirical take on Bruce Wayne running a poll about stepping down as Batman.

Twitter Blue is a paid-for subscription which allows anyone to buy a blue tick verified badge for their account.

Musk’s poll on Sunday night came after weeks of controversial decisions.

These have included loosening Twitter’s content moderation approach and allowing previously banned users to return, but also banning and then reinstating some journalists reporting on Musk and introducing and then appearing to remove a policy which banned users from tweeting links to certain other social media platforms.

Some online safety groups have accused the billionaire of allowing hate, abuse and misinformation to more easily circulate on the platform because of his free speech principles.

During his tenure, Musk has also laid off more than half of the company’s global workforce.

While it remains unclear who could replace Musk if he does step down, several commentators have noted that the billionaire would still have the final say on major decisions as Twitter’s owner.

Close
23 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel

     
    JournalTv
    News in 60 seconds