Musk to allow only blue tick users to vote in Twitter polls on policy decisions

Twitter will only allow paid Twitter Blue subscribers to vote on major policy-related decisions, according to CEO Elon Musk.

The development comes after a majority of people voted in favour of Elon Musk's resignation as Twitter CEO in a poll opened by Musk himself.

He asked users if he should step down as chief executive of the microblogging platform using his personal account. More than 57% of users voted in favour of his resignation. Musk put up the poll on December 19 and promised to abide by its results. Since then, he has not directly addressed the result of the poll.

However, in a reply to a user's suggestion that Twitter "blue subscribers should be the only ones that can vote in policy-related polls," Musk said that the company will "make that change." Twitter's paid-for verification feature costs $8 per month, or $11 for iOS users, and gives users a "blue tick."

In another tweet posted few hours after the poll, Musk said that he will resign as Twitter's CEO if he manages to find someone "foolish enough to take the job." He added that he would then run the software and server teams of the company.

Before Musk's takeover of Twitter, a blue tick was used as a verification tool and was perceived as a badge of authenticity. The blue-tick feature was free for prominent accounts.

Musk bought Twitter in October this year. He closed the deal with $13 billion in loans and a $33.5 billion equity commitment. He was forced to offload more than $15 billion in Tesla shares to raise enough cash to fund the purchase. The investors began losing faith in his commitment to Tesla as Musk seemed to be more preoccupied with Twitter.

Tesla stock also took a big hit when the company's investors started dumping their shares after witnessing Elon Musk's problematic business choices as Twitter's CEO. His current net worth is only around $168.5 billion, dethroning him from the top spot among the world's richest people.

He has also come under fire for the changes he has been introducing at the company. He scrapped the work-from-home policy, implemented longer working hours, and fired half of the company's 7,500 staff.