Elon Musk news: Twitter CEO says suspending accounts for Mastodon links was ‘a mistake’

Elon Musk has admitted taking down accounts for posting links to rival Mastodon was “a mistake” as he looks for a replacement after announcing he is stepping down.

While speaking in a Twitter space on Wednesday, Mr Musk was questioned about the suspension of accounts, like that of venture capitalist Paul Graham, for posting links to Mastodon.

“Yeah, that one was a mistake,” Mr Musk said.

He was then asked to clarify whether people can post the link to Mastodon now.

“Yeah f***ing post Mastodon all goddamn day long, I don’t care,” he added.

Twitter rolled back the controversial policy of suspending users for posting links to rival sites like the open-source Mastodon which is seeing a surge in new users since Mr Musk took control.

The admission comes after Mr Musk's confirmation that he would step down as Twitter CEO.

“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,” he tweeted.

Key Points

• Musk says taking down accounts for posting links of rival Mastodon was ‘a mistake’

• Elon Musk says he will resign as Twitter CEO

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

• Users vote overwhelmingly in poll for Musk to step down

Musk has hinted at stepping back from Twitter before

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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 suggests that only Twitter subscribers will be able to vote in polls

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Ms Musk defends her son

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

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

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Musk’s shifting alliances

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Users vote overwhelmingly in poll for Musk to step down

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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 only so supportive of direct democracy

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Dogecoin drops 11 per cent after Musk loses Twitter poll

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

What motivated Musk’s poll gambit?

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

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

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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

Musk at Twitter: a timeline

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Senator Warren warns Tesla board over Musk’s Twitter moves

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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

The new Liz Truss?

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Press freedom groups condemn Mr Musk’s journalist bans

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Journalist calls Elon Musk hypocrite after Twitter ban

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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

Does it matter if Musk steps down at Twitter?

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Around Austin, concerns over Musk as a neighbor

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Twitter launches new Twitter Blue for Business feature

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Tesla stock experiencing worst sell-off since 2010

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.”

Elon Musk shares latest ‘Twitter Files’ claims

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.”

Tesla share price continues 2022 fall

Tuesday 20 December 2022 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.

Twitter investor expects to make five times its money back

Tuesday 20 December 2022 22:56 , Graeme Massie

One of the biggest investors to join Elon Musk’s $44bn purchase of Twitter says it expects to make up to five times its money back.

Aliya Capital Partners LLC, which invested $360m alongside the Tesla billionaire says it is confident he will be able to monetise the platform’s 229 million daily users that have “historically been under-monetized.”

“We believe Twitter will produce a return of 4-5x in just a few years, with comparably limited downside risk,” Aliya Chief Executive Ross Kestin said in a statement.

Elon Musk’s security team allegedly hit motorist during ‘crazy stalker’ incident

Tuesday 20 December 2022 23:34 , Graeme Massie

South Pasadena police department has confirmed it is investigating 13 December incident that Tesla billionaire tweeted about.

Elon Musk’s security team allegedly hit motorist during ‘crazy stalker’ incident

Elon Musk says he will resign as Twitter CEO

01:46 , Graeme Massie

The billionaire, who lost a Twitter poll on Sunday in which he asked his followers if he should step down, made the announcement in a tweet on Tuesday evening.

“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,” he tweeted.

Over one million vote for Snoop Dogg to run Twitter

02:01 , Graeme Massie

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.

Trump calls Musk a ‘hero’ and says he held poll on quitting as Twitter CEO because he wants out

02:31 , Graeme Massie

Former president Donald Trump claimed billionaire deliberately lost new Twitter poll on his future.

Trump says Musk held poll on quitting Twitter because he wants way out

Voices | Is Elon Musk the new Liz Truss?

03:02 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: 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

04:03 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: 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.

ICYMI | Elon Musk warned of EU sanctions

05:04 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: 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

Musk says 'there is no successor'

06:10 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: 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?”

Musk says taking down accounts for posting links of rival Mastodon was ‘a mistake’

07:51 , Stuti Mishra

Elon Musk has admitted taking down accounts for posting links to rival Mastodon was “a mistake” as he looks for a replacement after announcing he is stepping down.

While speaking in a Twitter space on Wednesday, Mr Musk was questioned about the suspension of accounts, like that of venture capitalist Paul Graham, for posting links to Mastodon.

“Yeah, that one was a mistake,” Mr Musk said when asked about users getting banned for mentioning Mastodon.

“‘I agree, it was a mistake,” the Tesla billionaire again said after being told that arguments can be made for suspending Kanye West and ElonJet.

He was then asked to clarify whether people can post the link to Mastodon now.

“Yeah f***ing post Mastodon all goddamn day long, I don’t care,” he added.

Read the full story here:

Elon Musk says taking down accounts for posting Mastodon’s links was ‘a mistake’

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

08:50 , Stuti Mishra

ICYMI: 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.

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

09:53 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: 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’

2.5 million users flock to Twitter rival Mastodon since Musk takeover

10:30 , Stuti Mishra

Mastodon has seen millions of users flock in since Twitter's takeover by Elon Musk in October, growing eight times in monthly users.

According to a blog post by the platform’s founder, Eugen Rochko, the website saw 2.5 million users between the months of October and November, a big jump from 300,000 users earlier.

In the post addressing Twitter's now rolled-back rules limiting posting links to other social media sites and suspension of journalists, Mr Rochko wrote "more and more journalists, political figures, writers, actors and organisations" were moving over.

"Understanding that freedom of the press is absolutely essential for a functional democracy, we are excited to see Mastodon grow and become a household name in newsrooms across the world, and we are committed to continuing to improve our software to face up to new challenges that come with rapid growth and increasing demand," he wrote.

Mastodon is a free, open-source and self=hosted platform which has soared in popularity off late. However, its user base still remains a fraction of Twitter's over 238 million users.

Elon Musk ‘actively searching’ for new Twitter CEO

11:15 , Stuti Mishra

ICYMI: 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.

Are Elon Musk’s Twitter antics damaging Tesla?

12:02 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: 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 and Adam Schiff spar on twitter again

13:01 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: 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.