Elon Musk is polling Twitter users to ask if he should step down as head of the social media platform.
Musk, one of the world’s richest people, bought Twitter for $44 billion in late October, but his short tenure has been turbulent.
The Tesla and SpaceX owner launched his poll just after 11pm UK time, writing: “Should I step down as head of Twitter?
“I will fill in the results of this survey.”
About 20 minutes later, with the ‘yes’ votes coming forward, he added: “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, as you will get it.”
By 7am UK time, 13.5 million users had voted and 56.7% said Musk should resign.
He responded to a number of user comments, with one saying: “The question isn’t finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive.”
He added: “No one wants the job that can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.”
Another user volunteered for the job and Mr Musk replied: “You must really like pain.
“A catch: You have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it’s been on the fast track to bankruptcy since May.
“Do you still want the job?”
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Earlier on Sunday, it had declared war on Twitter’s social media rivals by banning the promotion of their accounts from its platform.
This means users could have their accounts suspended, blocked or deleted if they post links to their profiles on other social media sites, including Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, as well as Mastodon and Donald Trump’s Truth Social.
Last week he reinstated the Twitter accounts of several journalists who had been suspended for a day over concerns about the release of public data about his plane.
The billionaire laid off thousands of workers when he took over, sparking concerns about abuse and misinformation at the site.
Last week, the site fired its Trust and Safety Council, a group made up of charities and activists who advised the site’s bosses on its moderation policies.
Three board members who resigned had complained that Mr. Musk was creating a “two-tier” Twitter, where paying subscribers would get more benefits than free users.
They warned that this would “take away credibility from the system and the beauty of Twitter, the platform where anyone could be heard”.
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When he took over, Musk promised to improve Twitter, rid it of fake accounts and improve freedom of speech.
But it has lost many of its top advertisers as concerns grow about its management and its ability to pay interest on the $13 billion in debt that Mr. Musk to buy it.
On Saturday, the Reuters news agency revealed that Musk’s team had asked investors for more funding, just days after selling another $3.6 billion in Tesla shares, bringing it to close to $40 billion this year. of dollars in shares of his electric vehicle company.