Elon Musk began a Twitter ballot late on Friday asking followers to vote on whether or not to reinstate former US President Donald Trump’s account on the platform, with early outcomes exhibiting roughly 60 % voting sure.

“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted, a Latin phrase that roughly means that means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” The ballot was open for twenty-four hours.

Musk, Twitter’s new proprietor, stated in May he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Trump, whose account was suspended after final yr’s assault on the US Capitol.

Musk stated earlier within the day {that a} choice to convey again Trump’s account was but to be made, and that Twitter had reinstated some controversial accounts that had been banned or suspended, together with satirical web site Babylon Bee and comic Kathy Griffin.

Musk’s choice to ask Twitter customers for steerage on who must be on the platform is a part of an enormous restructuring of the corporate, together with large layoffs.

In a memo on Friday to remaining staff that was seen by Reuters, Musk requested those that write software program code to report back to the tenth flooring of the Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco by early afternoon.

The billionaire stated in a follow-up e-mail: “If possible, I would appreciate it if you could fly to SF to be present in person,” including he can be on the workplace till midnight and would return Saturday morning.

He requested staff to e-mail him a abstract of what their software program code has “achieved” previously six months, “along with up to 10 screenshots of the most salient lines of code.”

“There will be short, technical interviews that allow me to better understand the Twitter tech stack,” Musk wrote in one of many emails, and requested engineers to report at 2pm on Friday.

The emails got here a day after tons of of Twitter staff had been estimated to have determined to go away the beleaguered social media firm following a Thursday deadline from Musk that staffers join “long hours at high intensity.”

The exodus provides to the change and chaos which have marked Musk’s first three weeks as Twitter’s proprietor. He has fired prime administration together with former CEO Parag Agarwal and senior officers answerable for safety and privateness, drawing scrutiny from a regulator.

A White House official additionally weighed in, saying Twitter ought to inform Americans how the corporate was defending their information.

Tech web site Platformer reported on Friday that Robin Wheeler, the corporate’s prime advert gross sales government, had been fired.

Wheeler, who advised staff in a memo final week that she was staying, tweeted on Friday: “To the team and my clients…you were always my first and only priority”, with a salute emoji that has been adopted as a ship off for departing staff.

Twitter advised staff on Thursday that it could shut its places of work and minimize badge entry till Monday, in response to two sources. Reuters couldn’t instantly verify whether or not the headquarters reopened.

On Friday afternoon, the corporate had began chopping off entry to firm methods for among the staff who had declined to simply accept Musk’s supply, three individuals advised Reuters.

Another supply stated the corporate was planning to close down one in every of Twitter’s three fundamental US information facilities, on the SMF1 facility close to Sacramento, to save lots of prices.

In his first e-mail to Twitter staff this month, Musk warned that Twitter might not have the ability to “survive the upcoming economic downturn.” He additionally stated, “We are also changing Twitter policy such that remote work is no longer allowed, unless you have a specific exception.”

Amid the adjustments, Moody’s withdrew its B1 credit standing for Twitter, saying it had inadequate info to keep up the ranking.

© Thomson Reuters 2022