Elon Musk set to restrict voting on policy to Twitter Blue subscribers

The billionaire agreed with the suggestion after the majority of his followers voted for him to step down as head of the company

Elon Musk has instituted a ‘hardcore’ work environment for Twitter's remaining workers after a drastic cutback in staff. Reuters

Twitter will restrict voting on major policy decisions to paying Blue subscribers, company owner Elon Musk said in one of his first tweets following a poll calling for him to step down.

Responding to a Blue member going by the name Unfiltered Boss, Mr Musk agreed with the suggestion that only subscribers should have a voice in future policy and said, “Twitter will make that change”.

A day earlier, the billionaire chief executive pledged to submit all future policy decisions to a vote and offered Twitter users a choice on leadership, asking them if he should step down.

More than 10 million followers, or 57.5 per cent, were in favour of Mr Musk relinquishing his role as head of Twitter.

He committed to abide by the result when he launched the poll. However, nearly a day later, he had tweeted more than 10 times without directly addressing the outcome.

Mr Musk responded to a tweet suggesting the poll may have been manipulated by bots with a single word: “Interesting”.

His offer to step down came shortly after he attended the Fifa World Cup final match in Qatar, triggering a wave of trending topics such as “Vote Yes” and “CEO of Twitter”.

He did not identify an alternative leader and went so far as to say anyone capable of doing the job wouldn’t want it.

Mr Musk warned that Twitter is at risk of bankruptcy and instituted a “hardcore” work environment for the remaining workers after a drastic cutback in staff.

In his less than two months at the helm, he has spooked advertisers, alienated Twitter’s most ardent creators and turned the service from a reflection of the news of the day into the main topic.

After losing the initial poll, Mr Musk, who is also chief executive of electric vehicle maker Tesla, retweeted promotional material for the car company and for Twitter’s Blue for Business service.

He also responded to an article about rival Toyota Motor's criticism of electric vehicles with a simple “Wow”.

The stock of Tesla, by far Mr Musk’s most valuable holding, has plummeted since the Twitter acquisition and critics have said that he is spending too much time on the social media company.