A persisting debate about the suitability of Elon Musk as Twitter CEO could all come down to the results of a poll.
Mr Musk tweeted on Monday asking users to vote on whether he should leave the post after just two months in the job. In just four hours, nine million votes were cast, with 57 per cent in favour of him quitting.
The poll question from Mr Musk reads: "Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll."
The poll, which was posted about 10.20am AEDT, is slated to close at 10.20pm AEDT.
In a follow-up tweet, Mr Musk warned his followers to "be careful what you wish, as you might get it."
Reacting to the preference against his leadership, he said: "The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive.”
“No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor,” he later tweeted.
Some users on Twitter were taken aback by Mr Musk's choice to leave the decision up to a poll.
But history shows he has on a number of occasions turned to the medium to ask big questions. In November 2021, the Tesla chief sold around $6.7 billion worth of shares of the electric carmaker after his Twitter poll told him to do so.
In October this year the billionaire also came under fire after he posted a poll with suggestions about how to solve the war waging between Russia and Ukraine.
Reacting to his latest poll, some users alleged he had already planned to quit before he posed the question to the web.
"I suspect Elon already has his replacement selected and this is just a poll to make it seem like we are deciding," said one follower.
Rapper Snoop Dog joined in on the discussion with a tongue-in-cheek tweet of his own, asking if he should now be the one in charge. The vote is currently swinging his way with 86 per cent of his 130,000 votes voting 'yes'.
Since his $44 billion purchase, and takeover in late October, Mr Musk has been dealing with controversies about the direction he is taking Twitter.
Most recently, on 15 December, Twitter banned a number of journalists from CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post, accusing them of endangering Mr Musk's family by reporting on the shutdown of a Twitter account tracking his private jet.
The account, which is run by a university student who uses publicly available information, was previously allowed by Mr Musk to remain on the platform in the name of free speech.
Most of the accounts of the journalist have been reinstated - after running a separate poll - but saw the UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk say "serious concern" remained.
"Good news that journalists are being reinstated , but serious concerns remain," Mr Turk said on Twitter.
"Twitter has a responsibility to respect human rights: should commit to making decision based on publicly-available policies that respect rights, including free speech."
