Elon Musk flags change in Twitter voting policy after ouster vote

By Ambar Warrick 

Investing.com-- Elon Musk said on Tuesday that only subscribers to Twitter’s Blue subscription service will be eligible to vote on future policy decisions by the platform, shortly after an overwhelming majority of users voted in favor of his ouster as CEO. 

Responding to a tweet suggesting he enact such a voting policy, Musk agreed and said “Twitter will make that change.”

The move comes just a day after nearly 58% of 17.5 million users voted “Yes” to a poll by Musk over whether he should step down as the head of the social media platform. Musk said he would “abide” by the results of the poll. 

The Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) chief executive, who bought out Twitter earlier this year, has said that all major policy decisions for the social media site will be decided by public vote. The potential limiting of only verified accounts to voting in these polls will likely reduce the number of participants.

It also provides more incentive to subscribe for the verification service, which was recently relaunched by Twitter after a disastrous rollout in November, which saw a spike in impersonators and fake accounts on the social media platform. 

The Twitter Blue subscription service offers users a blue check on their profile and several other features, including the ability to edit tweets. Block and Mute actions by Blue users will also be incorporated into the platform as downvotes.

Musk garnered renewed controversy over his buyout of Twitter after the site had last week suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who were perceived to be critical of the Tesla CEO. The site had also suspended accounts that tracked the real-time locations of public figures, most famously one that tracked Musk’s private jet.

But Twitter had then restored the journalist accounts after widespread backlash against their suspension. The site also restored the accounts tracking his real-time movements after a series of polls by Musk showed users voting heavily in favor of their restoration. 

The Tesla CEO has attracted ire from shareholders over allegations that he is neglecting his duties at the electric carmaker. Musk also drew flak for selling over $3 billion worth of Tesla shares last week, despite repeated assurances that he would not do so.