Elon Musk: Twitter CEO to step down ‘as soon as someone foolish enough’ takes the role after online poll

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In what could possibly be his annus horribilis, Musk is set to step down as Twitter CEO after an online poll suggests he does so.

Elon Musk has confirmed on Twitter that he will step down as CEO “as soon as [he] finds someone foolish enough to take the job,” after polling users of the social media platform about staying on in his role. The poll, which Musk said he would abide by, saw 57.5% vote in favour of the Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur walking away from the platform.

Upon stepping down, Musk has confirmed that he will still be in charge of the software and server teams once his successor has been found. Twitter users already believe that Musk, who took over Twitter in October 2022, has found someone to take over his position, however replying to one such comment Musk wrote “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.”

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In an immediate response to how the polling figures were looking on Tuesday, Musk decreed that in the future, only verified “blue tick” users would be able to vote on matters regarding Twitter policy. Those verified accounts are available to Twitter users willing to pay a monthly-fee - one of many moves that saw Musk draw the ire of Twitter users.

Speculation has already mounted who could potentially take over from Musk, including former Twitter head Jack Dorsey, who resigned as chief executive in November 2021. The BBC has also reported other names include Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s former chief operating officer, Sriram Krishnan, engineer and close confidante to Mr Musk, and Jared Kushner, US former presidential adviser and son-in-law of Donald Trump.

It’s been a rocky road for Musk since his acquisition of Twitter earlier this year, with many from the outset believing it spelled the end of the micro-blogging site that started life in 2006. Mass layoffs by email, the discussion of re-introducing banned personalities on the platform and the aforementioned subscription model have blighted his run as Twitter CEO.

More recently, Musk came under fire for banning a number of journalists and news outlets who were critical of Musk in the past. Musk u-turned on the decision, reinstating a number of them, but not before the United Nations tweeted that media freedom was "not a toy", while the EU threatened Twitter with sanctions.

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