TWITTER’S newest board member and largest stakeholder Elon Musk has tweeted to ask whether the social media network is “dying” and to call out users who are highly followed but rarely post.

“Most of these ‘top’ accounts rarely tweet and post very little content,” wrote the Tesla boss, captioning a list of the 10 profiles with the most followers – a list which includes himself at number eight, with 81 million followers.

“Is Twitter dying?”

Former United States President Barack Obama appears at the top with 131 million followers, followed by stars such as Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Taylor Swift, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and football star Cristiano Ronaldo, among others.

“For example, @taylorswift13 hasn’t posted anything in three months,” Musk continued.

“And @justinbieber only posted once this entire year.”

The social media company named Musk to the board on Tuesday after the outspoken and polarising executive disclosed that he acquired a more than 9% stake in the company, making him the largest shareholder in Twitter.

Musk said he looks forward to making “significant improvements to Twitter”, and began polling his followers on whether to add an “edit” button to the service – a long-discussed tweak.

Twitter said it will start experimenting with one.

On Thursday, Musk tweeted a photo of himself smoking marijuana on a Joe Rogan podcast in 2018, with the caption, “Twitter’s next board meeting is gonna be lit”.

His antics often raise eyebrows and draw condemnation, as when Jewish groups blasted his tweet comparing Canadian leader Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler over Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

Musk later deleted the tweet without apologising.

The appointment has sparked misgivings among some employees, according to a Washington Post report.

Workers at the California-based social media company cited worries about Musk’s statements on transgender issues and his reputation as a difficult and driven leader, according to statements on Slack reviewed by the Post.

An agency has also sued Tesla, alleging discrimination and harassment against Black workers. The electric carmaker has rejected the charges, saying it opposes discrimination. – AFP, April 10, 2022.