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

Billionaire admits to Mastodon ‘mistake’ after confirming he will step down as Twitter chief

Musk polls twitter users on whether he should step down

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

[20 December 2022 06:30 · Abe Asher]

Musk at Twitter: a timeline

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.

Here’s a timeline of all the rules changes to get you caught up.

[20 December 2022 07:00 · Alisha Rahaman Sarkar]

Senator Warren warns Tesla board over Musk’s Twitter moves

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.

[20 December 2022 07:30 · Abe Asher]

The new Liz Truss?

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.

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.

[20 December 2022 08:30 · Abe Asher]

Press freedom groups condemn Mr Musk’s journalist bans

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.

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.

[20 December 2022 09:00 · Alisha Rahaman Sarkar]

Journalist calls Elon Musk hypocrite after Twitter ban

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.

[20 December 2022 09:30 · Abe Asher]

Does it matter if Musk steps down at Twitter?

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.

Jon Schwarz has more on these questions in a piece at The Intercept.

[20 December 2022 10:30 · Abe Asher]

Around Austin, concerns over Musk as a neighbor

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.

Some residents of the Brownsville area of South Texas have been similarly frustrated by SpaceX’s operations there.

[20 December 2022 12:30 · Abe Asher]

Twitter launches new Twitter Blue for Business feature

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.

[20 December 2022 14:24 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Tesla stock experiencing worst sell-off since 2010

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.”

(Google/ Nasdaq)

[20 December 2022 15:40 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Elon Musk shares latest ‘Twitter Files’ claims

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.”