Elon Musk – latest news: Twitter CEO breaks silence to say only subscribers will be allowed to vote in future

Officials in Brussels have warned Elon Musk that Twitter could face “sanctions, soon” after booting a series of journalists from its platform.

European commissioner Vera Jourova said that the suspensions were “worrying” and that EU law protects media freedom. “News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” Ms Jourova said.

The commissioner, who is the European Commission’s vice president for values ​​and transparency, said: “EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct.

Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”

Even if Mr Musk were to step back from his role running Twitter, how much would the company change? How much influence would he still have?

Mr Musk will likely continue to own the company for the foreseeable future and still, presumably, have a role in setting its direction as he attempts to raise revenues and cut costs. Twitter is privately owned, which means that there are fewer checks on Mr Musk’s power than there would be if it were still publicly traded.

Jon Schwarz has more on these questions in a piece at The Intercept.

A Business Insider journalist branded Elon Musk a “hypocrite” in a recent interview after her account remained suspended on Twitter.

Linette Lopez is one of the several journalists whose accounts were withheld by Twitter chief Elon Musk after he accused them of sharing private information about his whereabouts.

However, while the majority of the accounts were reinstated after Mr Musk sought a survey in which people voted demanding the revocation of suspension, Lopez’s account remained withheld.

Hitting out at him in an interview with MSNBC, Lopez said Mr Musk “is guilty of all the things that he is angry at the liberal media for doing and he’s never been any different from that”.

“We’re just all seeing it,” she told the outlet. “The reason I felt I was suspended is because Elon didn’t want them to see him as a hypocrite (sic).”

Mr Musk, a billionaire self-proclaimed champion of free speech, was condemned by press freedom and civil rights groups over his temporary bans of journalists who shared publicly available information on the whereabouts of his private jet.

Mr Musk’s leadership of the Twitter has alarmed a number of journalists who use the site for professional purposes, leading some to leave or consider leaving the platform for competitiors like Mastadoon and Post News.

American rapper Snoop Dogg has put himself forward to run Twitter, gathering more than one million votes in an online poll to take over from Elon Musk.

The 51-year-old poked fun at Mr Musk after the SpaceX and Tesla boss tweeted a poll asking if he should step down as Twitter CEO, amid a tumultuous takeover of the social media platform. The results showed 57.5 per cent voting in favor of the billionaire resigning.

“Should I run Twitter?” Snoop Dogg asked his followers yesterday morning.

Within 10 hours of writing the tweet, he had already accumulated more than one million votes and an overwhelming “Yes” result of 81.8 per cent.

Marie Le Conte writes Monday that Elon Musk on Twitter reminds her of Liz Truss as prime minister — a doomed figure who will eventually, inevitably, be forced out.

Ms Truss famously only lasted a handful of weeks at 10 Downing Street, and while Mr Musk’s stewardship of Twitter has already outlasted hers as prime minister, he is facing a number of crises that could force him to step back his role running the company. .

Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to Tesla’s board chair to express her concern that CEO Elon Musk has failed to meet his responsibilities to the company since completing his purchase of the social media platform Twitter less than two months ago.

In her letter to Robyn Denholm, Ms Warren wrote that she is concerned that Tesla’s board “has failed to meet its legal duty” to ensure that Mr Musk is acting in the best interests of the publicly-traded company and is wondering how the board is dealing with questions around Mr Musks’ “conflicts of interest, misappropriation of corporate assets, and other actions by Mr Musk that appear not to be in the best interests of Tesla and its shareholders.”

Mr Musk has remained in charge of Tesla in the aftermath of his purchase of Twitter, which left him responsible for $13bn in debt.

Need a refresher on what all has happened since Mr Musk’s arrival as Twitter? You’re not the only one.

Mr Musk’s short, turbulent reign at the social media company has seen a rise in hate speech on the website, the reinstatement of a number of far right accounts including that of former President Donald Trump, the suspension of journalists, the introduction of a paid subscription service, and the departure of a number of advertisers.

Here’s a timeline of all the rules changes to get you caught up.

Billionaire Elon Musk has said only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to vote in future policy-related polls on the platform in his first comments since millions of users voted for him to step down as chief executive of the site.

On Sunday, the Tesla boss said he would “abide by” the result of a poll, which he created, asking Twitter users whether he should step down. The result was confirmed with 57.5 per cent of the more than 17.5 million accounts that voted saying he should withdraw from his role.

His silence was finally broken just before 11.30pm yesterday, when he responded “Interesting” to a suggestion from Kim Dotcom, founder of the once wildly popular file-sharing website Megaupload, that the results of the poll were skewered by fake accounts.

What is the driving force behind Mr Musk’s potential departure from Twitter? There may be more to the situation than meets the eye.

James Moore reports that other parts of Mr Musk’s business empire are being threatened by Mr Musk’s highly visible and controversial reign as Twitter chief.