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Elon Musk announced on Dec. 20 (U.S. time) that he will step down as chief executive of Twitter after finding a replacement who's "foolish enough" to take over the job.

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.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022

More than half voted for him to step down

Elon Musk had previously opened a poll on his Twitter account on Dec. 19, asking users to vote on whether he should step down as the CEO, and saying that he would abide by the results of the poll.

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022

At the time of writing, 57.5 per cent of more than 17.5 million users have voted for him to step down.

Chaotic times

The poll came two months after Musk's acquisition of the social media platform in October 2022.

Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been described as "rocky" by CNBC due to massive staff cuts, a surge in hate speech, reinstatement of banned accounts as well as changes to the platform's private policy which have sparked fierce discussions on the freedom of speech.

Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, tweeted on Dec. 17 that Twitter should respect human rights and freedom of speech, in response to various journalists' accounts being suspended on Dec. 15  due to their coverage of Musk and the social platform. Their accounts were reinstated two days later.

Good news that journalists are being reinstated @Twitter, but serious concerns remain. Twitter has a responsibility to respect human rights: @elonmusk should commit to making decision based on publicly-available policies that respect rights, including free speech. Nothing less.

— Volker Türk (@volker_turk) December 17, 2022

Tesla's predicament

Reuters also reported that Wall Street had been calling for the billionaire to step down. Recently, even the board of Tesla has questioned his focus on Twitter and whether that is distracting him from the electrical vehicle business.

Tesla's stock prices have reportedly plunged to a record low since Musk announced his decision to buy Twitter in April 2022.

According to the New York Times, the electric car company’s share price was US$225 (S$304) on Oct. 27, the day Mr. Musk bought Twitter. Tesla shares subsequently sunk and closed at approximately US$140 (S$189) on Dec. 20 (U.S time). 

Tesla stockholder Ross Gerber tweeted on Dec. 21 that the fall in stock prices was due to the company lacking proper leadership.

Tesla stock price now reflects the value of having no CEO. Great job tesla BOD - Time for a shake up. $tsla

— Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) December 20, 2022

Only Twitter Blue votes?

According to CNBC, Twitter polls are considered straw polls, meaning that they should not be taken as professional public opinion research. Fake accounts or bots are also able to respond to a Twitter poll.

A previous report by Reuters also said that Musk had planned to limit voting to Twitter Blue subscribers, saying that "Twitter will make that change", without confirming when the change will be implemented.

Twitter Blue is an opt-in, paid monthly subscription priced at US$8 (S$10.80) online and US$11 (S$14.80) on Apple devices.

No successor yet

Musk said on Dec. 18 that there was no replacement yet and that “no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive”, though comments show that some have expressed interest in the role.

No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2022

Although Musk has said that he will continue to run Twitter's software and servers teams and remain as the owner of the social platform, in reality, he cannot afford to sell the company which he took over for US$44 billion (S$59.5 billion)

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Top images via Getty/Yui Mok - PA Images & Dimitrios Kambouris