(Washington) Elon Musk is asking Twitter users to decide whether he should quit after acknowledging he made a mistake in launching new restrictions to ban mentions of rival social networks.
Twitter had announced on Sunday that users would no longer be able to post links to Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and other platforms. But the move drew so much immediate criticism that Mr. Musk vowed to make no more major policy changes without a user survey.
“Twitter no longer allows free promotion of certain social networks on Twitter,” the platform announced on Sunday.
Seven platforms were affected: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Post and Nostr. As well as “social media link aggregators like linktr. ee, lnk. organic”, it is specified.
For example, it became prohibited to tweet: “Thank you for following me @Identifier on Instagram”.
Highlighting his latest Instagram photo, or a Facebook post, thus exposed the Twitter user to a suspension of his account. And if he mentioned any of his other accounts in his biography or in his name, the penalty was the same, the network had warned.
“If violations of the rule remain an isolated act or a first violation, we may take a number of measures ranging from the deletion of one or more tweets to the temporary locking of account (s)”, detailed Twitter.
But offenders were warned: “Any repeat offense will result in a permanent suspension”.
These new rules were announced as many Twitter users recently said they were considering migrating to other platforms, which most likely worries the new boss of the San Francisco-based company.
The change also aroused the misunderstanding of Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, a company he left in 2021. “Why? “, he soberly tweeted.
After some accounts were suspended under the new policy, including that of investor Paul Graham, Mr Musk qualified his decision. He tweeted that instead of targeting individual tweets, the policy would be limited to “suspending accounts only when the ‘primary’ purpose of that account is promoting competitors.”
He then asserted: “In the future, there will be a vote for major political changes. My excuses. This will not happen again. »
Later, he even put his future as CEO of Twitter to a vote by site users. “Should I quit running Twitter? he tweeted, asking them to click yes or no.
“I will respect the results of this poll,” he said, with voting open until the early hours of Monday.
As of 11 p.m. Sunday, more than 10 million people had voted and around 56% of them wanted Elon Musk to leave office.
“As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for because you might get it,” he tweeted after posting the poll.
Worry
Since the takeover of Twitter by the boss of Tesla and SpaceX at the end of October, for 44 billion dollars, the moderation rules put in place by Elon Musk, self-proclaimed defender of freedom of expression, have caused concern.
He has, in recent days, deleted and then restored the accounts of several American journalists, CNN, New York Times and washington post in particular, causing the European Union and the UN to react. The Vice-President of the European Commission even threatened him with sanctions.
The multi-billionaire had first, on Wednesday, suspended @elonjet, an account that automatically reported the routes of his private jet, then the accounts of journalists who had then tweeted about the decision, accusing them of putting his family in danger.
These were reinstated on Saturday, but some said they were told to delete certain posts if they wanted to make full use of the platform.
And, on Saturday evening, the Twitter account of a journalist from washington postTaylor Lorenz, was in turn suspended for several hours.
“Elon Musk has suspended my Twitter account,” said the journalist, who covers the technology sector for the washington post.
Her account was reinstated on Sunday, and she tweeted at 12:38 p.m.
Mixed messages
The multi-billionaire boss of the platform had, earlier in the day, declared on Twitter that it was a “temporary suspension due to a previous disclosure of personal data by this account”.
His tweet was in response to Eric Weinstein, managing director of Thiel Capital – an investment company founded by Peter Thiel, investor and supporter of Donald Trump, who asked him about the subject.
The journalist explained that she asked Elon Musk a question via Twitter, for an article she is writing, because she could not reach him through traditional channels.
“At 8:30 p.m. I tried to reach him on Twitter for a comment,” she said, adding that when she later “tuned in [à Twitter] to see if he had responded to our request, [elle était] suspended. “I have not received any communication from the company about the reasons for my suspension or the terms that I violated. »
Elon Musk has sent mixed messages since taking over Twitter, reinstating previously banned accounts, including Donald Trump’s.
But he also suspended that of Kanye West after the publication of several messages deemed anti-Semitic and refused the return to the platform of far-right conspirator Alex Jones.
With Frederik-Xavier Duhamel, The Press