Police investigate Elon Musk ‘crazy stalker’ incident as Tesla stock drops sharply– live updates

Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted for the first time since losing an online poll in which he asked users if he should step down as CEO of Twitter and told them he would “abide by the results”.

The poll attracted more than 17 million voters in just 12 hours, with 57.5 per cent voting “Yes”.

The Tesla chief last night responded “interesting” to a suggestion from Kim Dotcom, founder of the once popular file-sharing website Megaupload, that the results of the poll were skewed by fake accounts.

Another user suggested that “Blue subscribers should be the only ones that can vote in policy-related polls”. Mr Musk responded by saying: “Good point. Twitter will make that change.” Twitter Blue is a paid subscription that allows users to buy a verification badge for their accounts.

His poll comes at he heels of the latest uproar coming over a policy that barred users from linking to certain rival social media websites, including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon.

Twitter then reversed the policy within hours. “Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again,” he added.

Key Points

• Musk suggests that only Twitter subscribers will be able to vote in polls

• Users vote overwhelmingly in poll for Musk to step down

• Twitter CEO quiet after landslide defeat in poll

• When will Musk actually step down as Twitter boss?

Elon Musk and Adam Schiff spar on twitter again

19:47 , Graeme Massie

The billionaire asked the lawmaker from California if he had approved “hidden state censorship in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States.”

Mr Schiff was quick to turn the tables on Twitter’s owner.

“I don’t support censorship. Or hate speech. As the (outgoing) CEO of Twitter, how about you? Why not do more to stop slurs against Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Jewish people, and others? Do you commit to providing the public with actual answers and data, not just tweets?” he wrote.

Tesla share price continues 2022 fall

19:18 , Graeme Massie

The price of Tesla shares fell a further 6 per cent on Tuesday after a string of brokerages cut their price targets for the electric vehicle-makers stock.

This came in the wake of Elon Musk’s $44bn purchase of Twitter and the chaos that has happened at the social media platform ever since.

Tesla’s share price hit $140.86 on Tuesday, a more than two-year low, reported Reuters.

Are Elon Musk’s Twitter antics damaging Tesla?

16:39 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Tesla investors are reportedly fuming over what they see as a major distraction for Musk. The electric car maker is currently experiencing the biggest stock sell-off since going public 12 years ago (see chart below), and the CEO’s antics on Twitter are seen as a significant factor in this $600 billion slide.

We’ve heard from Antoine Argouges the founder of ethical investment group Tulipshare:

Antoine Argouges

Elon Musk shares latest ‘Twitter Files’ claims

15:40 , Anthony Cuthbertson

The chief Twit - at least for now - is back tweeting.

Ignoring the current speculation about who might replace him at the social media firm, Musk is instead back on his other favourite topic of recent days: The Twitter Files.

“Government paid Twitter millions of dollars to censor info from the public,” he wrote, while retweeting ‘Part 7’ of the Twitter Files.

“Other social media companies too,” he added, “not just Twitter.”

Elon Musk ‘actively searching’ for new Twitter CEO

14:50 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Elon Musk is reportedly “actively searching” for a new CEO of Twitter, according to sources cited by CNBC.

There’s no word on who might be a potential successor, despite several figures putting their name forward - including the rapper Snoop Dogg and computer scientist Lex Fridman.

“The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive,” Musk tweeted on Sunday night.

Tesla stock experiencing worst sell-off since 2010

14:24 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Shares of Tesla have taken a hammering since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, with some of the electric car maker’s major shareholders lamenting their CEO being distracted by Twitter.

Since their peak in November 2021, Tesla shares are down by more than 62 per cent. This is Tesla’s worst sell-off since the firm went public in 2010.

Musk addressed the stock drop last Friday, blaming the loss of $600 billion worth of value on forces outside of his control. “Tesla is executing better than ever!” he tweeted. “We don’t control the Federal Reserve. That is the real problem here.”

Musk appears to fuel notion that bots played part in Twitter poll defeat

13:30 , Abe Asher

Mr Musk on Monday night appeared to fuel a theory that bots were to blame for his defeat in the poll asking whether he should remain Twitter CEO.

Earlier on Monday, an account with the username Wall Street Silver quote-tweeted a side-by-side comparison of the poll on the question of reinstating the account of former President Donald Trump with the poll on the question of Mr Musk’s ongoing Twitter leadership.

The former poll had roughly 15m votes and 836,000 likes, while the later poll had nearly 15m votes and just 312,000 likes. This led Wall Street Silver to wonder “Did bots brigade the Elon poll yesterday?”

Mr Musk replied, “Interesting”. It is not clear why there would be any relationship between voting in a poll on Twitter and liking a tweet, two different actions that do not seem to have any direct relationship.

Musk says 'there is no successor'

13:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Even if Elon Musk steps down as the head of Twitter, picking out a successor may not be so simple.

“No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive,” he tweeted overnight. “There is no successor.”

One of those stepping forward to offer their services is Lex Fridman, an AI researcher, computer scientist and popular podcast host.

“Let me run Twitter for a bit,” he tweeted to Musk. “No salary. All in. Focus on great engineering and increasing the amount of love in the world. Just offering my help in the unlikely case it’s useful.”

Musk replied: “You must like pain a lot. One catch: you have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May. Still want the job?”

Twitter launches new Twitter Blue for Business feature

12:30 , Abe Asher

Twitter on Monday announced not Mr Musk’s resignation as CEO, but a new Twitter Blue for Business feature that “lets businesses distinguish their brands and key employees on Twitter.”

Businesses will now be distinguished with square profile pictures and gold checkmarks, as opposed to circular pictures and blue checkmarks for other accounts. Verified existing businesses have already been folded into the new programme and now have gold checkmarks and square pictures.

Twitter is currently piloting the programme with a select number of businesses and plans to roll out it fully next year.

Voices | Is Elon Musk the new Liz Truss?

12:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Will Elon Musk step down as chief executive of Twitter? I have no idea. He might have done it by the time this is published, or he might not. Maybe he’ll have made it illegal to use the letter “a” by then, or banned non-binary people from the app altogether. Who knows.

Musk tweeted a poll asking users if they thought he should step down and those users – your columnist very much included – did, at the time of writing, just tell him precisely where to stick it. It is unclear whether anything will change.

What is certain, on the other hand, is that the chaos will continue in one form or another for the foreseeable future.

In the Elon Musk era, there isn’t such a thing as a quiet Twitter news week, writes Marie Le Conte.

Is Elon Musk the new Liz Truss? | Marie Le Conte

New Twitter policy favours paying subscribers

11:30 , Abe Asher

John Besey has a rundown of Mr Musk’s Monday night announcement that only paying Twitter subscribers will be able to vote on future policy-related issues.

Musk: Future policy-related polls only open for Twitter Blue subscribers

The announcement came shortly after a majority of Twitter users voted for Mr Musk to step back from his role at the company in an open poll on Sunday.

AOC criticises Musk: ‘Lay off the proto-fascism’

11:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Member of congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned billionaire Elon Musk after the new Twitter chief suspended the accounts of half a dozen journalists who routinely reported on him and the social media platform.

Responding to the billionaire’s abrupt ban on journalists, Ms Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that he should take a “beat and lay off the proto-fascism”.

She pointed out that Mr Musk was an extremely controversial and powerful public figure. “I get feeling unsafe, but descending into abuse of power + erratically banning journalists only increases the intensity around you,” the Democratic lawmaker said.

As someone who has been subject to real and dangerous plots, I do get it. I didn’t have security and have experienced many scary incidents,” she added.

“In fact, many of the right-wing outlets you now elevate published photos of my home, car, etc. At a certain point you gotta disconnect. Maybe try putting down your phone,” she suggested.

Mr Musk swiftly responded: “You first lol.”

Read more here.

AOC criticises Musk over Twitter suspensions of journalists: ‘Lay off proto-fascism’

Around Austin, concerns over Musk as a neighbor

10:30 , Abe Asher

People around the world have formed opinions on Elon Musk and his management of Twitter, but people in Central Texas have opinions on him informed by his behaviour as their neighbour.

Mr Musk relocated a number of his companies to Texas in the last several years, with companies like Tesla and Boring Co. now located in and around the state capital of Austin. There, The Real Deal reports, some residents are contemplating moving because of the ecological disruption wrought by Mr Musk’s companies.

Elon Musk Not Endearing Himself to Texas Neighbors

Some residents of the Brownsville area of South Texas have been similarly frustrated by SpaceX’s operations there.

ICYMI | Elon Musk warned of EU sanctions

10:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Officials in Brussels have warned Elon Musk that Twitter could face “sanctions, soon” after booting a series of journalists from its platform.

European commissioner Vera Jourova said that the suspensions were “worrying” and that EU law protects media freedom.“News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” Ms Jourova said.

The commissioner, who is the European Commission’s vice president for values and transparency, said: “EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct.

“Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”

Read more here.

Elon Musk warned of EU ‘sanctions’ after banning journalists from Twitter

Does it matter if Musk steps down at Twitter?

09:30 , Abe Asher

Even if Mr Musk were to step back from his role running Twitter, how much would the company change? How much influence would he still have?

Mr Musk will likely continue to own the company for the forseeable future and still, presumably, have a role in setting its direction as he attempts to raise revenues and cut costs. Twitter is privately owned, which means that there are fewer checks on Mr Musk’s power than there would be if it were still publicly traded.

Who Cares Whether Elon Musk Is CEO of Twitter? He OWNS It.

Jon Schwarz has more on these questions in a piece at The Intercept.

Journalist calls Elon Musk hypocrite after Twitter ban

09:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A Business Insider journalist branded Elon Musk a “hypocrite” in a recent interview after her account remained suspended on Twitter.

Linette Lopez is one of the several journalists whose accounts were withheld by Twitter chief Elon Musk after he accused them of sharing private information about his whereabouts.

However, while the majority of accounts were reinstated after Mr Musk sought a survey in which people voted demanding the revocation of suspension, Lopez’s account remained withheld.

Hitting out at him in an interview with MSNBC, Lopez said Mr Musk “is guilty of all the things that he is angry at the liberal media for doing and he’s never been any different from that”.

“We’re just all seeing it,” she told the outlet. “The reason I felt I was suspended is because Elon didn’t want them to see him as a hypocrite (sic).”

Namita Singh reports.

Journalist brands Musk a ‘hypocrite’ as her Twitter account remains suspended

Press freedom groups condemn Mr Musk’s journalist bans

08:30 , Abe Asher

Mr Musk, a billionaire self-proclaimed champion of free speech, was condemned by press freedom and civil rights groups over his temporary bans of journalists who shared publicly available information on the wherabouts of his private jet.

Elon Musk’s suspension of journalists alarms press freedom and civil rights groups

Mr Musk’s leadership of the Twitter has alarmed a number of journalists who use the site for professional purposes, leading some to leave or consider leaving the platform for competitiors like Mastadoon and Post News.

Over one million vote for Snoop Dogg to run Twitter

08:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

American rapper Snoop Dogg has put himself forward to run Twitter, gathering more than one million votes in an online poll to take over from Elon Musk.

The 51-year-old poked fun at Mr Musk after the SpaceX and Tesla boss tweeted a poll asking if he should step down as Twitter CEO, amid a tumultuous takeover of the social media platform. The results showed 57.5 per cent voting in favour of the billionaire resigning.

“Should I run Twitter ?” Snoop Dogg asked his followers yesterday morning.

Within 10 hours of writing the tweet, he had already accumulated more than one million votes and an overwhelming “Yes” result of 81.8 per cent.

The new Liz Truss?

07:30 , Abe Asher

Marie Le Conte writes Monday that Elon Musk at Twitter reminds her of Liz Truss as prime minister — a doomed figure who will eventually, inevitably, be forced out.

Is Elon Musk the new Liz Truss? | Marie Le Conte

Ms Truss famously only lasted a handful of weeks at 10 Downing Street, and while Mr Musk’s stewardship of Twitter has already lasted longer than hers as prime minister, he is facing a number of crises that could force him to step back his role running the company.

Senator Warren warns Tesla board over Musk’s Twitter moves

07:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to Tesla’s board chair to express her concern that CEO Elon Musk has failed to meet his responsibilities to the company since completing his purchase of the social media platform Twitter less than two months ago.

In her letter to Robyn Denholm, Ms Warren wrote that she is concerned that Tesla’s board “has failed to meet its legal duty” to ensure that Mr Musk is acting in the best interests of the publicly-traded company and is wondering how the board is dealing with questions around Mr Musks’ “conflicts of interest, misappropriation of corporate assets, and other actions by Mr Musk that appear not to be in the best interests of Tesla and its shareholders.”

Mr Musk has remained in charge of Tesla in the aftermath of his purchase of Twitter, which left him responsible for $13bn in debt.

Abe Asher has more.

Sen Elizabeth Warren warns Tesla board over Elon Musk’s Twitter moves

Musk at Twitter: a timeline

06:30 , Abe Asher

Need a refresher on what all has happened since Mr Musk’s arrival as Twitter? You’re not the only one.

Mr Musk’s short, turbulent reign at the social media company has seen a rise in hate speech on the website, the reinstatement of a number of far right accounts including that of former President Donald Trump, the suspension of journalists, the introduction of a paid subscription service, and the departure of a number of advertisers.

Musk's Twitter rules: A dizzying, whiplash-inducing timeline

Here’s a timeline of all the rules changes to get you caught up.

Musk says future polls on policy limited only to those who pay him

06:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Billionaire 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 with 57.5 per cent of the more than 17.5 million accounts that voted saying he should withdraw from his role.

His silence was finally broken just before 11.30pm yesterday, 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.

Read more here.

Musk: Future policy-related polls only open for Twitter Blue subscribers

What motivated Musk’s poll gambit?

05:30 , Abe Asher

What is the driving force behind Mr Musk’s potential departure from Twitter? There may be more to the situation than meets the eye.

What’s behind Elon Musk’s talk of stepping down at Twitter?

James Moore reports that other parts of Mr Musk’s business empire are being threatened by Mr Musk’s highly visible and controversial reign as Twitter chief.

Dogecoin drops 11 per cent after Musk loses Twitter poll

05:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The price of Dogecoin plunged more than 10 per cent yesterday and was trading at $0.07 following Elon Musk’s landslide defeat in a poll where he asked if he should step down as the head of the social media platform.

The meme coin had seen its price pump since the billionaire bought Twitter in October.

When Musk officially purchased Twitter, the price of Dogecoin was $0.07, however, within days, the coin was trading at $0.14, according to CoinGecko.

Musk only so supportive of direct democracy

04:30 , Abe Asher

Since buying Twitter nearly two months ago, Mr Musk has talked a big game about democracy. He has asked Twitter users for their input on company policy in multiple polls and reinstated accounts that had been banned under the previous regime for reasons including hate speech.

But Mr Musk has also moved to limit speech and restrict journalists’ use of the site in certain cases, and announcement that Twitter would only allow accounts with paid subscriptions to the Twitter Blue service to vote on policy matters going forward raised eyebrows for some observers.

Users vote overwhelmingly in poll for Musk to step down

03:44 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

More than 17 million Twitter users participated in the poll where billionaire Elon Musk asked whether he should step down as the head of the social media platform.

On Sunday night, Mr Musk tweeted the poll and asked users: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” At least 57.5 per cent of the users voted positively to the option “Yes”.

Since then Mr Musk has not said anything publicly about whether he will follow through on his promise and remove himself from the post.

Musk’s shifting alliances

03:30 , Abe Asher

Musk’s popularity on the right has grown in recent weeks, as political figures and commentators frequently critical of the influence of Silicon Valley and major social media companies on American politics have rallied around a figure increasingly supportive of their ideological causes.

An opinion article in Fox News on Monday called for Mr Musk to remain at Twitter because he “pushed back against the Left’s repugnant effort to shut down Americans’ freedom of expression.”

Mr Masters, in his speech at the Turning Point USA conference, suggested that conservatives need to “help” the embattled billionaire.

Blake Masters says people who want him to become Twitter CEO are ‘wishing a lot of pain on me'

02:30 , Abe Asher

Speaking at a Turning Point USA conference on Monday, Blake Masters, recently defeated in his quest to become the next US Senator from Arizona, claimed that “some people” want him to join Twitter.

“Some people say Blake, what you really got to do is help Elon and run Twitter as the next CEO. What do you think about that?”

The crowd applauded, after which Mr Masters said, “Oh man, you guys are wishing a lot of pain on me. I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do.”

Mr Masters, a venture capitalist who ran for the Senate with the backing of conservative tech entreprenuer Peter Thiel, was soundly defeated by Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly and in the process scored worst focus group results of any candidate the head of one Republican-aligned Super PAC had ever seen.

Ms Musk defends her son

01:30 , Abe Asher

Not everyone is criticising Elon Musk today. The billionaire has plenty of supporters, and one of the most prominent is his mother.

Maye Musk, a dietician and model originally from Canada, has sent out a raft of tweets defending her son’s management of Twitter in recent days and promoting Mr Musk’s other companies like Tesla and SpaceX.

She appeared to particularly support Mr Musk’s short-lived ban on the promotion of competitor sites on Twitter, which Mr Musk quickly walked back after widespread criticism.

Musk suggests that only Twitter subscribers will be able to vote in polls

00:36 , Abe Asher

A day after Twitter users overwhelmingly voted to oust him, Elon Musk is now suggesting that only paid subscribers to his Twitter Blue service will be able to vote in polls.

Mr Musk replied to a tweet from @Unfilteredboss1, who wrote that “Blue subscribers should be the only ones that can vote in policy related polls. We actually have skin in the game”.

That tweet came in a thread that began with a response to the poll from a different user who wrote, “I’m hoping that Elon did this poll as a honeypot to catch all the deep state bots. The dataset for this poll will contain most of them. Some good data-mining and he could kill them all in one go”.

“Interesting, Mr Musk replied.

It is not immediately clear whether Mr Musk will relaunch the poll concerning his future leadership of Twitter and confine it only to paid subscribers, or whether this means that he does not plan to “abide by the results” of the initial poll as he said he would.

Musk has hinted at stepping back from Twitter before

00:16 , Abe Asher

To some observers, Mr Musk’s Twitter poll did not come out of nowhere.

Last month, Mr Musk testifed in Delaware as part of a suit regarding a $56bn pay package Tesla gave awarded him in 2018 that he expects to eventually step back from Twitter and re-commit much of his time to other companies and ventures.

“There’s an initial burst of activity needed post-acquisition to reorganize the company,” Mr Musk said. “But then I expect to reduce my time at Twitter.”

Mr Musk has been a hands-on manager at Tesla, but hands-off at a number of his other companies. He’s never run a social media company before, and his first seven-plus weeks on the job have resulted in advertisers fleeing the platform and investors in other companies like Tesla growing nervous about his activities.

Musk remains quiet as his World Cup Final trip draws scrutiny

Monday 19 December 2022 22:38 , Abe Asher

Elon Musk still has not addressed the results of a poll in which a significant majority of the more than 17m respondents voted to remove him from his role running Twitter, meanwhile, a number of observers are scrutinising the company he was keeping at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday.

Mr Musk was in Qatar for the thrilling World Cup Final between Argentina and France, where he was spotted watching the match with former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and shaking hands with Turkish President Recep Erdoğan.

Mr Musk also took a photograph with the Russian television presenter Nailya Asker-Zade, who has been sanctioned by the Canadian and UK governments in connection with the ongoing war in Ukraine. The UK government believes that Ms Asker-Zade may be in a relationship with banking oligarch Andrei Kostin.

In recent years — and particularly in recent weeks — Mr Musk has espoused increasingly right wing views on political and culture issues.

Telsa downgraded on Wall Street over concerns about Musk’s Twitter management

Monday 19 December 2022 22:01 , Abe Asher

Mr Musk’s management of Twitter is increasingly affecting his other companies.

On Monday afternoon, Oppenheimer & Co. downgraded its Tesla rating over concerns about Mr Musk’s handling of Twitter and the precarious financial position it may leave him in.

“We believe Mr. Musk is increasingly isolated as the steward of Twitter’s finances with his user management on the platform. We see potential for a negative feedback loop from departure of Twitter advertisers and users,” Oppenheimer’s Colin Rusch wrote to clients in a message reported by CNN.

Mr Musk took on a significant amount of debt to complete his purchase of the social media platform, and major advertisers have fled the site since his takeover. That, along with the considerable damage to Mr Musk’s reputation, may in turn harm Tesla.

Tesla shares have fallen significantly since Mr Musk bought Twitter. Mr Musk has not yet said whether he will step away from the social media site after a majority of respondents to a Twitter poll voted to oust him yesterday.

Musk quiet after landslide defeat in Twitter poll

Monday 19 December 2022 21:23 , Abe Asher

Elon Musk still has not addressed the results of a poll in which a significant majority of the more than 17m respondants voted to remove him as head of Twitter.

Mr Musk promised to “abide by the results” of the poll asking “Should I step down as head of Twitter?” but he’s tweeted just twice today in its aftermath — retweeting a Michael Shellenberger tweet about the so-called Twitter Files and a SpaceX tweet about the satallite internet service Starlink.

Mr Musk has not said anything publicly about whether he will follow through on his promise and remove himself from operating the social media platform he bought less than two months ago.

Elizabeth Warren wants answers from Telsa about Musk’s management

Monday 19 December 2022 20:29 , Abe Asher

Sen Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has written to the chair of the board at Tesla requesting answers on how the board is overseeing Mr Musk’s leadership of the company after his Twitter takeover.

Ms Warren, a progressive who has clashed with Mr Musk in the past, raised questions about Tesla’s handling of Mr Musk’s “conflicts of interest, misappropriation of corporate assets, and other actions by Mr. Musk that appear not to be in the best interests of Tesla and its shareholders.”

Tesla stock has plummeted since Mr Musk bought Twitter, while Mr Musk has reportedly asked Tesla employees to help him restructure the social media company’s corporate structure.

In her letter to Robyn Denholm, Ms Warren wrote that she is concerned Tesla’s board “has failed to meet its legal duty” to ensure that Mr Musk is acting in the best interests of the publicly-traded company. She is requesting a response by January 3.

Twitter CEO approval down 70% on Glassdoor

Monday 19 December 2022 16:10 , Anthony Cuthbertson

It’s not just Twitter users that disapprove with Elon Musk apparently – employees are also unimpressed with the tech billionaire, according to the latest figures from company review site Glassdoor.

CEO approval among Twitter employees is just 21 per cent, having been at 90.5 per cent at the start of the year.

The company’s overall rating has also dropped from 4.2 out of 5 in January 2022 to 3.6 out of five today.

‘Platform’s problems will not disappear overnight'

Monday 19 December 2022 14:47 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Was Elon Musk’s poll a pretext for something else? What does it realistically mean for Twitter and its owner?

We’ve heard from Stuart Skinner, group managing director at digital agency The PHA Group, who has offered his analysis on the move:

Stuart Skinner, PHA Group

Elon Musk trending on Twitter

Monday 19 December 2022 14:03 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Elon Musk is currently trending on Twitter, according to global trends. Other terms like ‘Twitter CEO’ are also popular, as people speculate who might take over from the tech billionaire.

A lot of the tweets pushing the Twitter owner’s name to the top of trends are fairly critical of Musk, though some are at least attempting to take the positives from the poll.

“If Elon Musk steps down today, he’ll have been in charge of Twitter four days longer than Liz Truss was officially in office as Prime Minister,” tweeted journalist Nick Stylianou.

A timeline of Elon Musk’s turbulent Twitter reign

Monday 19 December 2022 12:53 , Anthony Cuthbertson

A lot has happened in the 53 days since Elon Musk announced his takeover of Twitter.

You can read the full timeline here, but here are some highlights:

– October 27: Mr Musk tweets a video of himself walking into Twitter HQ carrying a sink with the caption “let that sink in” as he takes control of the company after a protracted and often tense takeover process. Then, in his first act as owner, Mr Musk sacks several top executives.

– November 4: Twitter begins laying off more than half its global workforce by sending out blanket emails to staff as part of what the company calls necessary cost-cutting – legal action from staff around the world follows claiming breaches of employment law.

– November 11: Twitter Blue’s rollout is paused after a number of incidents of impersonation, with bad actors posing as verified public figures and tweeting offensive and inappropriate content. Mr Musk later says it will return once improvements have been made.

– November 16: In an email to the company’s remaining staff, the billionaire tells workers they must agree to be more “hardcore” and work longer, more intense hours in order to build “Twitter 2.0”. Mr Musk says staff who do not agree to this ultimatum will be let go.

– November 20: The Twitter boss reinstates the account of former US president Donald Trump after asking Twitter users to vote on the issue.

– November 30: Amid rising concerns around Twitter’s content moderation approach, EU officials warn Mr Musk that Twitter must comply with its new online safety rules or face being banned.

– December 13: Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council, an advisory group of nearly 100 independent civil, human rights and other organisations that helps the firm combat harmful content on the site, is dissolved.

– December 16: Twitter suspends the accounts of a number of journalists who had written about Mr Musk and his banning of an account that used publicly available information to track the flights made by his private jet.

– December 18: The site says it will no longer allow links to certain other social media platforms to be posted – including Facebook and Instagram, as well as possible rivals such as Mastodon.

– December 19: Mr Musk says he will abide by a new poll in which he asks if he should step down as the head of Twitter.

More than 10 million people voted for Elon Musk to step down as head of Twitter

Monday 19 December 2022 12:18 , Anthony Cuthbertson

The final results of Elon Musk’s poll show that 57.5 per cent of the 17,502,391 respondents voted for him to step down as head of Twitter.

That’s just over 10 million people wanting him gone.

Monday 19 December 2022 12:12 , Anthony Cuthbertson

American rapper Snoop Dogg has put himself forward to replace Elon Musk as head of Twitter, mimicking the tech billionaire’s poll with one of his own.

“Should I run Twitter,” he tweeted a few hours after Mr Musk launched his poll.

There’s still more than 13 hours left until Snoop Dogg’s poll closes, but more than 1 million people have already voted. Currently 81.7 per cent of those who voted think he should.

You can read the full story by Lily Ford here:

Nearly one million vote for Snoop Dogg to run Twitter after he mimics Musk poll

When will Elon Musk actually step down as Twitter boss?

Monday 19 December 2022 12:03 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Elon Musk is usually a man of his word, especially when it comes to Twitter polls.

In November 2021, he sold 10 per cent of his Tesla stock after asking his followers whether he should do so in order to pay tax.

Last month, he reinstated the account of Donald Trump after 51.8 per cent of the 15 million respondents voted for him to do so.

He also typically acts within a couple of days, though this time might be a bit trickier. It’s unlikely he will step aside until a replacement is found, though he has so far turned down everyone who has made a somewhat serious offer, at least publicly.

His unorthodox approach to leading companies could even throw up more surprises, with leadership decisions handed to some form of AI, or even a never-ending series of Twitter polls.

“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” he tweeted last month.

Elon Musk yet to comment on poll results

Monday 19 December 2022 11:46 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Elon Musk has not tweeted in more than nine hours and is yet to respond to the results of the poll, which is now officially closed.

He may well be sleeping, having been last spotted at the World Cup final in Qatar last night alongside former presidential advisor and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

His last tweet (which wasn’t a reply) was: “Those who want power are the ones who least deserve it.”

The results are in!

Monday 19 December 2022 11:21 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Elon Musk to step down as head of Twitter after users vote him out

Separate Twitter poll shows support for Musk

Monday 19 December 2022 11:17 , Anthony Cuthbertson

With just five minutes to go until Elon Musk’s poll officially closes (it’s not looking good for him), a separate poll has shown significant support for the tech billionaire - at least in some corners of Twitter.

Michael Saylor, who is best known as the founder of software firm MicroStrategy, asked his followers on 11 December whether they thought Twitter was better since Mr Musk took over in October.

More than 80 per cent of respondents said yes.

‘Elon Musk will still pull the strings'

Monday 19 December 2022 10:43 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Lot’s of people have been replying to Elon Musk’s poll with offers to be the new CEO of Twitter, some serious, some less so.

We’ve heard from Jukka Väänänen, CEO of the PR platform Newspage:

Jukka Väänänen, Newspage

Elon Musk says ‘no one wants the job'

Monday 19 December 2022 10:08 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Even if Elon Musk steps down as the head of Twitter, picking out a successor may not be so simple.

“No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive,” he tweeted overnight. “There is no successor.”

One of those stepping forward to offer their services is Lex Fridman, an AI researcher, computer scientist and popular podcast host.

“Let me run Twitter for a bit,” he tweeted to Musk. “No salary. All in. Focus on great engineering and increasing the amount of love in the world. Just offering my help in the unlikely case it’s useful.”

Musk replied: “You must like pain a lot. One catch: you have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May. Still want the job?”

It’s also worth noting that leaving the role of CEO will not stop him having control of the platform, as he will remain its majority stakeholder and owner.

Elon Musk’s Twitter poll passes 16 million votes

Monday 19 December 2022 09:39 , Anthony Cuthbertson

More than 16 million people have now voted on Elon Musk’s poll asking whether or not he should step down as head of Twitter.

Over 57 per cent have voted ‘Yes’, meaning more than 9 million people are keen to see him go, while around 7 million want him to stay on as the boss of the social media company.

There’s less than an hour left to vote, so millions more Twitter users would need to vote for him to stay for the result to be reversed.

ICYMI: Twitter founder Jack Dorsey laments state of app

Monday 19 December 2022 09:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who stepped down in November last year, has said the company meets none of the standards he hoped to achieve and said social media companies should not be owned by a single person.

Anthony Cuthbertson reports:

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey laments state of app

With around two hours to go, it’s not looking good for Musk

Monday 19 December 2022 08:52 , Sam Rkaina

Elon Musk could step down from the top job at Twitter after just two months, if he respects the results of an online poll launched on Sunday night.

Around 57% of 15 million voters had said that Mr Musk should resign as Twitter chief executive with around two hours to go until the poll closes.

Mr Musk launched the Twitter poll on Sunday night after having watched Argentina beat France in the World Cup final in Qatar.

“Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” he tweeted, along with the options “Yes” or “No”.

It was unclear whether Mr Musk would respect the results and actually step down if that was the choice. Last week he removed a poll on reinstating the accounts of suspended journalists before it had concluded.

The 12-hour poll was launched at 11.20pm on Sunday night.

Suspended from Twitter, Insider journalist brands Musk a ‘hypocrite’

Monday 19 December 2022 08:40 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Linette Lopez, a Business Insider journalist branded Elon Musk a “hypocrite” in a recent interview after her account remained suspended on Twitter.

“We’re just all seeing it,” she said to MSNBC last Friday.

“The reason I felt I was suspended is because Elon didn’t want them to see him as a hypocrite (sic).”

Namita Singh reports:

Journalist brands Musk a ‘hypocrite’ as her Twitter account remains suspended

Musk tells Adam Schiff his brain is 'too small'

Monday 19 December 2022 08:20 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Elon Musk has squared off with representative Adam Schiff after the member of congress criticised the Twitter CEO’s decision to suspend several journalist accounts.

“Elon Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist, to justify turning a blind eye to hatred and bigotry on Twitter,” Mr Schiff tweeted on Saturday.

“But when journalists report unfavorable news, they are banned without warning.

“The devotion to free speech is apparently not that absolute. But the hypocrisy is.”

Mr Musk responded to the tweet on Sunday morning and said: “Thankfully, you lose your chairmanship very soon.”

He was referring to Mr Schiff’s position heading the House Intelligence Committee.

“Your brain is too small,” Mr Musk added.

His tweet was taken down later in the day, reported the Huffington Post.

Musk says Twitter in 'fast lane to bankruptcy'

Monday 19 December 2022 08:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Elon Musk says that Twitter, the social media platform he acquired for $44bn, has been in the “fast lane to bankruptcy” since May.

Mr Musk was responding to a tweet by Lex Fridman a researcher from MIT who said: “Let me run Twitter for a bit. No Salary. All in. Focus on great engineering and increasing the amount of love in the world.

“Just offering my help in the unlikely case it’s useful.”

Mr Musk then responded: “You must like pain a lot. One catch: you have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May. Still want the job?”

What are Elon Musk’s politics?

Monday 19 December 2022 07:40 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Over his many years of fame as the chief executive of Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter, Elon Musk has attacked everyone and everything from Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders through individual regulatory officials to Covid rules, trade unions, and “pronouns”.

He claims to be “neither left nor right” wing.

But his escalating interventions in America’s culture wars tell a different story, writes Io Dodds:

What are Elon Musk’s political beliefs?