Elon Musk Announces When He's Stepping Down as Twitter CEO and What He'll Do After
Twitter and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced Tuesday evening that he would step down from his role once he finds a successor.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job,” the 51-year-old tycoon wrote in a Twitter post replying to a poll he had previously shared asking users if he must step down.
Musk said that after he resigns as Twitter CEO, he will “just run the software & servers teams.”
Musk shared the original poll in a Sunday post on Twitter, writing, “Should I step down as head of Twitter?”
I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
“I will abide by the results of this poll,” Musk vowed, later stating in another post on Twitter, “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it.”
Some Twitter users, such as Wall Street Silver, speculated that Musk might have published the poll because he had a successor in mind. However, Musk clarified that he had no eligible successor in consideration.
No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2022
“No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor,” Musk replied.
By the time the poll closed Monday morning, over 17 million Twitter accounts had participated in the unscientific survey.
Approximately more than 57.5 percent of the respondents voting that Musk must step down as head of the microblogging platform, while around 42.5 percent of responding accounts voted no.
Musk did not directly address the poll’s results until Tuesday. However, when one user on Monday suggested that Twitter Blue subscribers “should be the only ones that can vote in policy related polls,” Musk replied, “Good point. Twitter will make that change.”
The billionaire tech entrepreneur published the poll after drawing controversy following his Wednesday decision to ban over 25 accounts tracking private planes such as those flown by Musk himself, oligarchs, government agencies, and celebrities using publicly available information.
Musk also suspended eight journalists, claiming they violated Twitter rules by publishing what he considered to be “assassination coordinates” targeting him.
The suspended journalists included the New York Times’ Ryan Mac, Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, independent journalist Aaron Rupar, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, Mashable’s Matt Binder, sports commentator Keith Olbermann, The Intercept’s Micah Lee, and Voice of America’s Steve Herman.
Musk’s decision to suspend the reporters and the flight-tracking accounts drew criticism across the platform, including from some of Musk’s supporters, notably Paul Graham, a founder of Y Combinator, and investor Balaji Srinivasan, the New York Times reported.
Musk’s actions also drew criticism from the European Union and the United Nations.
“Media freedom is not a toy,” Melissa Fleming, the UN’s undersecretary-general for global communications, said, according to reporting from the BBC. “A free press is the cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in the fight against harmful disinformation.”
On Friday, EU commissioner Vera Jourova warned Twitter that it could face sanctions under Europe’s Digital Services Act which mandates online platforms to uphold “the respect of media freedom and fundamental rights,” BBC reported.
“Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon,” Jourova added, according to the BBC.
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