Twitter users vote for Elon Musk to step down as chief executive

Twitter users have been told to “expect the unexpected” after they voted in favour of Elon Musk stepping down as the site’s chief executive in an online poll – a result the billionaire said he would respect.

Industry expert Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight said the company’s future was now even more unpredictable following the vote – which was run by Mr Musk himself – after an already turbulent period under his leadership which has seen a number of controversies and several major policy U-turns.

“One thing I’d say is expect the unexpected. Ultimately he still owns the company and is the one calling the shots,” Mr Pescatore told the PA news agency.

Mr Musk had launched a poll on his Twitter page on Sunday night which asked: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” along with the options Yes or No.

When the poll closed on Monday morning, 57.5% had voted “Yes”, after more than 17.5 million votes were cast.

The Tesla boss has not yet publicly responded to the vote and it is unclear if or when he would hand over the day-to-day running of the social media giant, but he said before the vote closed that there was “no successor” lined up.

Mr Musk only took over the social media firm two months ago after completing a 44 billion dollar (£36 billion) deal for the company.

Other industry experts also said Mr Musk’s influence at Twitter was unlikely to substantially dwindle even if he did step down from running the platform day-to-day.

Jukka Väänänen, chief executive of PR platform, Newspage, said: “Even if he steps down as CEO, Musk will still be pulling the strings at Twitter, that much is for sure.

“Whether you believe Musk is genuinely aspiring to create a digital town square or turning Twitter into a 1970s banana republic, truth is it’s Musk’s gig and he’s going nowhere.”

Social media commentator Matt Navarra said he believed the Tesla boss was “expecting” the result because of his controversial stint in charge and the poll is part of his own preparations to step aside.

“I get the feeling he’s bored of his plaything now – his new toy – and he’s in fact seeing what most previous tech CEOs and social media bosses have seen, which is that it is actually no fun being the person in charge of all the decision-making and policies around social media and content moderation,” he said.

“It’s also a huge distraction from his other big moneymaking businesses like Tesla, and he’s not doing himself any favours from a financial point of view, or in terms of relationships with stakeholders and shareholders in his other businesses.”