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March 29, 2024

SAN FRANCISCO — Well-known Twitter users were suspended without warning or explanation, then abruptly reinstated.

A new policy that prevents users from sharing links and usernames from other social platforms has been rolled out, but apparently scaled back.

Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has sent out a series of messages to his 122 million followers asking if they should resign as head of the social media service while lamenting that no one else wants the job.

It was another chaotic 48 hours for Twitter, which has been in turmoil since Mr. Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of the company in late October. His tenure has been marked by mass layoffs at the company, executive resignations and unpaid bills. Advertisers hesitated, rival services popped up, and many Twitter users feared the service would stop working.

But over the weekend, a string of seemingly random and erratic behavior by Mr. Musk on the platform infuriated Twitter users to the point that anger ran high — and then blew into disgust. The backlash has grown so strong that even Mr. Musk’s most vocal supporters appear to have their backs.

Critics include Silicon Valley technologists and entrepreneurs who have previously backed Mr Musk, such as Paul Graham, founder of startup accelerator Y Combinator, and investors Balaji SrinivasanMr. Graham tweeted Sunday that Mr. Musk’s latest action on Twitter was “the final straw.”

The outrage has even sparked a crisis of confidence among Mr Musk’s Silicon Valley associates in what appears to be the 51-year-old billionaire, who was pictured earlier in the day with Jared Kushner at the World Cup in Qatar finals.

“Should I resign as head of Twitter?” Mr. Musk tweeted on Sunday night after Twitter users continued to question his actions. By evening in San Francisco, nearly 6 million users had responded, and the 24-hour survey leaned toward “yes.”

Mr. Musk, who often uses it at the most important moments, said he would abide by any decisions of Twitter users. A successor has yet to be identified, he said.

Twitter users have grown dissatisfied with Musk’s ownership since the middle of last week.

It started last Wednesday, when Twitter banned more than 25 accounts for using publicly available information to track the location of private jets, including Mr. Musk. While Musk had previously promised to allow accounts called @ElonJet to remain online, he later said he believed the accounts, which also tracked the planes of oligarchs, government agencies and celebrities, were a security risk.

Mr Musk has defended his actions by introducing a new Twitter policy that bans accounts that share other people’s “real-time location”.

On Thursday, Mr Musk used the policy to ban the Twitter account of alternative social media network Mastodon after it used it to advertise @ElonJet’s new presence on its platform. He also suspended the accounts of reporters from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and others after sharing some links or screenshots of Mastodon’s tweets promoting @ElonJet. (One of the suspended accounts is that of Ryan Mac, a reporter for The New York Times and the author of this article.)

The suspension was lifted on Friday after Mr. Musk asked his followers whether they should reinstate the accounts and 59 percent of respondents said yes. But by then, the criticism was already piling up.

CPJ Chairwoman Jodie Ginsburg said in a statement at the time: “If Twitter owner Elon Musk really wants to build a platform that allows free speech for all, then removing journalists from the platform Except it’s pointless.”

Late Saturday, Twitter suspended the account of Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz after she posted a message asking Mr. Musk to comment on an upcoming report. Mr. Musk later said that Ms. Lorenz was “responsible forprevious doxxing actionor sharing non-publicly identifiable information online. Ms. Lorenz does not appear to have revealed anyone’s personal information in the tweets visible in her timeline.

On Sunday, Twitter went a step further. The company abruptly announced a new policy saying it would no longer allow accounts created solely to promote other social platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Mastodon. Mr Musk said the change was made to prevent “competitors from relentlessly advertising for free, which is ridiculous”.

The move proved to be very unpopular with users, accustomed to opening up social networks where messages and videos can be easily shared across platforms. The new policy also appears to run counter to Mr. Musk’s statements about his commitment to an open web and more transparency into company decisions.

Mr. Graham, the Y Combinator founder who had backed Musk’s takeover, said on Twitter that the new rules banning the promotion of other competing platforms had put him off Twitter and told his followers to find him on Mastodon. Twitter subsequently suspended Mr Graham’s account. (Mr Musk later said Mr Graham’s account will be restored.)

Other Silicon Valley technologists and venture capitalists said they had “fed up” with Twitter and started exploring alternative services. Ben McKenzie, actor and prominent cryptocurrency skeptic, Say He took a break from Twitter, adding, “This site isn’t as interesting as it used to be.” Other users accused Mr. Musk of behaving like a dictator.

Mr. Musk started to backslide. He tweaked the new policy to only suspend accounts whose primary purpose was to promote competitors.

“Looking ahead, there will be votes on major policy changes,” he tweeted. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Moments later, Musk asked his followers if he should step down as Twitter’s leader. Then he added, “Nobody wants the job that’s going to really keep Twitter alive. There’s no successor.”





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