A Twitter poll conducted by Elon Musk has shown the majority of users of the social media platform who took part are in favour of him standing down as CEO.

The poll, which ended on Monday night, showed about 57.5 per cent of votes cast were for “yes” while 42.5 per cent were against the idea of Mr Musk stepping down as the head of Twitter.

The billionaire had launched the poll on Sunday evening.

Mr Musk said on Sunday he would abide by the results of the poll but did not give details on when he would step down if results said he should.

Tweet from @elonmusk

More than 17.5 million people took part in the vote.

The poll of users came just hours after yet another drastic policy change.

Twitter announced early on Monday (AEDT) that users would no longer be able to link to Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and other platforms the company described as “prohibited”.

But the move generated so much immediate criticism, including from past defenders of Twitter’s new billionaire owner, that Mr Musk promised not to make any more major policy changes without an online survey of users.

“My apologies. Won’t happen again,” he tweeted, before launching the 12-hour poll.

Shares of Tesla Inc, the electric car maker that Mr Musk heads, were up more than 5.0 per cent in pre-market trading.

Mr Musk, who lost his title as the world’s richest person earlier this month, also founded the tunnelling enterprise Boring Company, backs medical device company Neuralink and heads rocket company SpaceX.

Tesla investors have been concerned Mr Musk has been spreading himself too thin following the Twitter deal.

Tesla has already lost almost 60 per cent of its value this year, as it battles supply chain issues and increasing competition in the EV space.

Last month, Mr Musk told a Delaware court that he would reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company.

Replying to one Twitter user’s comment on a possible change in CEO, Mr Musk said on Sunday “there is no successor”.

Last week, Twitter disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, a volunteer group formed in 2016 to advise the social media platform on site decisions.

The policy change follows other chaotic actions at Twitter since Mr Musk bought the social network.

He fired top management and laid off about half of of the platform’s workforce, while seesawing on how much to charge for Twitter’s subscription service Twitter Blue.

Late last week, Mr Musk also suspended the accounts of several journalists amid controversy over the ban on the account tracking his private plane.

He reinstated the accounts after criticism from government officials, advocacy groups and journalism organisations from several parts of the globe on Friday, with some saying the microblogging platform was jeopardising press freedom.

-Reuters