Elon Musk (center) with Jared Kushner, right, at Lusail Stadium, Qatar, this Sunday during the World Cup Final CARL RECINE (REUTERS)
Twitter announced this Sunday that it will suspend accounts promoting rival social networks, the company that was acquired by tycoon Elon Musk announced on Sunday. The move sparked such a viral and virulent response that hours later it was Tesla’s own founder who published a poll of his followers and users on the platform asking if he should step down as CEO of Twitter, but without confirming that there was a cause. and consequence. relationship between the two movements. The richest man in the world used Sunday to set the nets on fire again during the World Cup final in Qatar.
For many, the survey of his 122 million followers is an explicit finding that he has wrongly banned the mention of other social networks on his platform. Musk admits to making a mistake this Sunday by introducing new restrictions on users’ free speech, just three days after the uproar caused by the unilateral closure of the profiles of a dozen North American journalists, according to the report from the executive that is still in his private life very intensely. In yet another change to its Acceptable Use Policy, Twitter announced early Sunday that its users will no longer be able to connect to Facebook or Instagram, owned by Meta, and other platforms such as Mastodon or Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social network. 🇧🇷
However, the ban drew so much criticism, including from supporters of the billionaire, that Musk vowed not to make any changes to the usage policy without questioning users first. As the network he owned aired footage of the tycoon in a grandstand at Lusail Stadium next to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, Twitter’s chief arsonist turned the network back on with his apology: “My apologies. It won’t happen again,” Musk tweeted in reference to the previous announcement, before launching another 12-hour poll asking whether he should resign as head of Twitter.
The question is, “Should I keep Twitter? I stand by the result of this poll,” urged the billionaire, who later warned in another tweet: “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, you might get it.” After the poll began, two million users had voted and 56% supported the firing, a rate that consolidated at 57.5% two and a half hours later, with just over 6.5 million people voting. If this trend continues and Musk delivers on his promise, Tesla could once again have a fully available CEO, according to a shareholder of the electric vehicle maker on the social network. “That would be a sign of relief,” said the investor.
Twitter last week shut down an account tracking Musk’s flights on a private jet, then profiled journalists with information about the tycoon for allegedly interfering in his private life, a decision quickly rectified despite criticism. we get. The blocking of the accounts of 10 professionals even provoked a reaction from the UN and the EU, which threatened sanctions, and from associations fighting for press freedom. Before rehiring the journalists, Musk launched another poll on the subject, a kind of virtual plebiscite that has been widely repeated on Twitter since his arrival.
The failed ban on competing platforms included popular sites like Facebook and Instagram, as well as up-and-coming Twitter rivals like Mastodon, which saw its user base skyrocket after Musk landed on his social network; Trump’s Tribel, Nostr, Post and Truth Social, which has been reinstated by the tycoon on Twitter and is not yet in danger of returning as a prodigal son. Twitter has not provided an explanation as to why the blacklist targeted these sites and not others such as LinkedIn, the ultra-conservative Forum Parler or the micro-video platform TikTok, as they served as a surveillance tool for China.
Musk’s photo on Sunday at the Qatari Stadium next to Trump’s son-in-law also drew ink on Twitter, due to the magnate’s increasingly apparent ties to the former president and some of the Republican Party. Twitter had already taken steps to block links to one of its rivals, Mastodon, after its main Twitter account tweeted about the businessman’s private jet controversy last week. Mastodon has particularly benefited from Twitter users unhappy with the breakneck transformation since Musk bought the company for $44 billion in late October and began restoring accounts that violated Twitter’s anti-hate mail rules.
Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
