These days, blink and you’ll miss Elon Musk announcing significant changes on Twitter. It’s also no longer a surprise to see the new owner suddenly backtracking on changes that you’d assume he had given more thought to.
Musk started the week with another poll which eventually led to subscription-based Twitter Blue users getting more power than regular users and Musk moving the goalpost before he steps down (if that ever happens) as promised.
On Sunday night, Musk asked Twitter users if he should step down as head of Twitter — saying he’d abide by the poll results. He almost got a more positive outcome with 57.5% of the voters saying “Yes” to Musk stepping down and 42.5% saying ‘no”.
We should have known it wouldn’t take a simple poll for him to step down. All it took (it seems) was a tweet from a Twitter user who describes himself as a “Crypto enthusiast/ Proud Capitalist” and says “sarcasm is my First Language” in his bio for Musk to move the goalpost.
Kim Dotcom, a verified user, suggested that Musk’s poll was “unwise”. Another user suggested that Twitter Blue subscribers should be the only ones who can vote in policy-related polls.“Blue subscribers should be the only ones that can vote in policy-related polls. We actually have skin in the game,” he tweeted.
Musk responded saying:” Good point. Twitter will make that change.”
Money talks, and we can expect subscription-based Twitter Blue users to vote on Twitter policy going forward.
Read More: Twitter has officially brought its new ‘verification’ system back (for now)
As the new owner continues to advocate for “free speech” and more power to the people, the recent changes at Twitter make it clear free speech and the power to make decisions are for sale at Twitter. Pay a few dollars (depending on the rand/dollar exchange) and you can buy a checkmark for authenticity and also buy the power to make decisions for those with no dollars to spare. It’s beginning to look a lot like capitalism out there.