SAN FRANCISCO — High-ranking Twitter users were suspended without warning or explanation, then abruptly reinstated.
A new policy to prevent users from sharing links and usernames from other social platforms was rolled out and then apparently curtailed.
And Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, posted a deluge of messages to his 122 million followers asking if he should step down as head of the social media service while complaining that no one else wanted the job.
It’s been another chaotic 48 hours on Twitter, which has been in turmoil since Musk completed a $44 billion buyout of the company in late October. His tenure has already been marked by mass layoffs, executive layoffs and unpaid bills at the company. Advertisers declined, rival services struck, and many Twitter users feared the service simply wouldn’t work anymore.
But over the weekend, a series of actions on Mr. Musk’s seeming arbitrary and capricious caused Twitter users to become so confused that outrage escalated—then turned to disgust. The backlash became so intense that even Mr. Musk’s most strident supporters turned their backs.
Critics included Silicon Valley technologists and entrepreneurs who previously supported Mr. Musk, such as Paul Graham, a founder of the start-up accelerator Y Combinator, and the investor Balaji Srinivasan. The latest actions of Mr. Musk with Twitter were “the last straw,” Mr. Graham on Sunday.
The outcry from even among Musk’s Silicon Valley cohort sparked what appeared to be a crisis of confidence in the 51-year-old billionaire, who was photographed earlier today attending the World Cup final in Qatar with Jared Kushner.
On Elon Musk’s Twitter
“Should I step down as head of Twitter?” Mr Musk tweeted on Sunday evening after Twitter users continued to question his actions. By the early evening in San Francisco, nearly six million users had responded, and the 24-hour survey tipped for “yes.”
Mr. Musk, who often deals with it in the biggest moments, said he would abide by whatever Twitter users decided. No successor has yet been found, he said.
Twitter users had been increasingly agitated over Mr Musk’s property since the middle of last week.
It started last Wednesday when Twitter banned more than 25 accounts tracking the locations of private planes – including Mr Musk’s – using publicly available information. While Mr Musk had previously promised to keep the account known as @ElonJet online, he said at the time that he considered the accounts, which also tracked the planes of oligarchs, government agencies and celebrities, to be a security risk.
Mr Musk justified his action by introducing a new Twitter policy that banned accounts if they shared someone else’s “live location”.
On Thursday, Mr. Musk that policy to ban the Twitter account of Mastodon, the alternative social media network, after using his account to advertise @ElonJet’s new presence on its platform. He also suspended the accounts of journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media outlets after some shared links or screenshots of Mastodon’s tweet promoting @ElonJet. (One of the suspended accounts was for Ryan Mac, a Times journalist and author of this article.)
The suspensions were lifted on Friday after Mr Musk asked his followers if he should have the accounts reinstated and 59 percent of respondents said yes. But by then, the criticism had piled up.
“If Twitter owner Elon Musk really wants to promote a platform that enables freedom of expression for everyone, there’s no point in removing journalists from the platform,” Jodie Ginsberg, chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement at the time. .
Then, late Saturday, Twitter suspended The Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz’s account after she posted a message calling Mr. Musk asked for comment on an upcoming story. Mr Musk later said Ms Lorenz was suspended for a “previous doxxing action”, or sharing non-public identifying information online. Ms. Lorenz appeared not to have revealed anyone’s personal information in the tweets visible on her timeline.
On Sunday, Twitter went one step further. The company abruptly announced a new policy stating that it would no longer allow accounts created solely to promote other social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Mastodon. Mr Musk said the change was made to “prevent ruthless free advertising for competitors, which is extremely absurd”.
The move proved highly unpopular with users, who are used to accessing social networks where posts and videos can be easily shared across platforms. The new policy also seemed to contradict statements Mr. Musk has made about his commitment to an open web and to giving people more transparency in the company’s decisions.
Mr Graham, a founder of Y Combinator who had supported Mr Musk’s takeover, tweeted that the new rules prohibiting the promotion of other competing platforms led him to “give up” on Twitter and told his followers that they had to look for him on Mastodon. Twitter subsequently suspended Mr. Graham’s account. (Mr. Musk later told Mr. Graham’s story would be restored.)
Other Silicon Valley technologists and venture capitalists said they were “done” with Twitter and started exploring alternative services. Ben McKenzie, an actor and well-known cryptocurrency skeptic, said he took a break from Twitter, adding, “This site isn’t as fun as it used to be.” Other users accused Mr. Musk of acting like a dictator.
Mr. Musk began to back away. He amended the new policy so that only accounts whose main purpose was to promote competitors would be suspended.
“Major policy changes will be voted on in the future,” he tweeted. “My apologies. Won’t happen again.”
Moments later, Musk asked his followers if he should step down from his leadership role at Twitter. Then he added: “Nobody wants the job that can actually keep Twitter alive. There’s no successor.”
