Yesterday, Elon Musk lost his own Twitter poll about whether he should stay on as Twitter CEO. Over 57% of users voted that he should step down, a decision Musk pledged to abide by no matter the results.
But today, instead of resigning, he’s proposing a different methodology for Twitter polls, one that’s been accused of having “racist” and “apartheid” ties.
Musk has not officially addressed his loss, but responded to a suggestion that only Twitter Blue users should be allowed to vote in polls.
“Blue subscribers should be the only ones that can vote in policy related polls. We actually have skin in the game,” wrote @Unfilteredboss1, in response to Kim Dotcom’s claim the poll had been overrun by “deep state bots.”
“Good point. Twitter will make that change,” Musk wrote, agreeing that only those who fork over $8 a month to use Twitter Blue should have a say in the site.
And although Twitter is a private entity, and not a national government, a number of users called it a “poll tax,” which leaders have long used to prevent people of color from participating in elections, diminishing their voting power.
It didn’t help that Musk is from South Africa, which has a long history of implementing racist taxes and up until the 1990s was an apartheid state.
“Hmm. Interesting take. Kinda sounds like land owners should only be able to vote?” wrote one user.
“Hard to believe that a guy who inherited apartheid money would be into poll taxes,” another said.
Musk previously said any Twitter decision would be made by a poll. Apparently changing how polls may work does not constitute a decision about the nature of Twitter.
But while Musk hasn’t commented on his poll loss, CNBC is reporting that he may indeed be looking for a new CEO for the social media site.
