What’s the opposite of quiet quitting? Because that’s what Elon Musk seems to be doing as CEO of Twitter.

After another head-spinning day on the bird app, Musk posted a poll asking users whether he should step down as the company’s chief executive (“I will abide by the results of this poll,” he said.) As of 5am ET, more than 57% voted “yes”—he should step down. 

As bizarre as it sounds that a CEO would leave their professional fate to random people (and an untold number of bots), there’s reason to think that Musk will actually abide by the results: He restored former President Trump’s account after that choice won in a poll, and also reinstated banned journalists’ accounts this weekend when users voted in favor of that option.

But in even posting the survey in the first place, Musk seems to be issuing a cry for help. In the roughly seven weeks since he (reluctantly) bought Twitter for $44 billion, the only constant has been chaos—from the debacle of a rollout of Twitter’s subscription service to haphazard and inconsistent application of content moderation policies.

That chaos reached a climax yesterday

A new rule instituted (briefly) by Twitter caused even Musk’s most loyal supporters to lose faith in him. The company said Sunday that it would no longer allow the “free promotion” of certain rival social media sites on its platform: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, and three others.

• In response, former CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that the policy “doesn’t make any sense.” (Dorsey previously said that Musk was “the singular solution I trust” to lead Twitter.)
• Venture capitalist Paul Graham, who just last month bashed Musk critics, tweeted “This is the last straw. I give up” after Twitter announced the rule change. Graham’s account was subsequently suspended, then reinstated.

After receiving pushback, Twitter once again reversed itself and deleted its posts about the new rule.

Big picture: While criticism from his backers may have been the immediate cause of Musk publicly questioning his role as CEO, the fundamental issue is that Twitter is simply a failing business under Musk’s ownership. As advertisers have paused spending on the platform and Musk faces $1 billion in annual interest payments, Twitter has reportedly been seeking new equity investors to help fund the company.

As for the question of whether Musk has a replacement in mind if he does step down, he said yesterday “There is no successor.”

Angelenos say goodbye to celeb mountain lion. P-22, a beloved mountain lion who lived in LA’s Griffith Park, was euthanized on Saturday after numerous health problems left the big cat with “no hope for a positive outcome,” according to the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife. For much of the 10 years he lived in the park, P-22 managed to avoid the paparazzi, but one National Geographic photo of him in front of the Hollywood sign turned him into a global symbol of wildlife conservation in cities. Lawmakers are already calling for P-22 to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In China’s cities, streets are quiet. But, unlike during the past three years, it isn’t because of lockdowns—it’s because Covid is surging after authorities ended strict restrictions, and people are staying home. There is little reliable data on the size of the outbreak but signs point to a severe wave: Shanghai and other cities moved classes online starting today, long lines have formed outside Covid clinics, and Beijing funeral homes can’t keep up with demand.

Bundle up—it’s going to get cold. An arctic blast in the week leading up to Christmas will bring potentially the coldest weather of the season across a wide swath of the US. About 270 million people in the lower 48 states will experience temperatures of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below, and about 55 million will see the thermometer dip to 0 degrees or below. These frigid temps could disrupt holiday travel, forecasters warn.

A Trump-era border policy implemented at the start of the pandemic is set to expire on Wednesday, causing uncertainty in places like El Paso, Texas, that are already struggling with an influx of migrants.

The policy: In March 2020, the US government invoked a rule that gave it the power to rapidly expel migrants and asylum-seekers at the southern border, arguing that those migrants, if allowed entry to the US, would contribute to the spread of Covid-19. The Trump administration said it was justified under Title 42 of the public health code, which allows health officials to bar people from coming to the US when there’s a communicable disease in another country.

• Since Title 42 was invoked due to the pandemic, migrants have been expelled more than 2.4 million times, per US Customs and Border Protection.

Joining other Democrats and human rights activists who criticized Title 42 for being illegal and inhumane, President Biden pledged in his campaign to end the rule. But it wasn’t until May of this year that he tried to wind down enforcement of Title 42. That attempt was stalled in court, but last month a federal judge ruled that the policy will end on Dec. 21—two days from now.

GOP lawmakers have tried to keep Title 42 from being wound down, arguing it’ll lead to surges in migrants that border towns aren’t equipped to handle. They’ve called on the Supreme Court to intervene before the order is lifted Wednesday, or else “it’s gonna be total chaos,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on ABC yesterday.

Big picture: Border cities are bracing for an influx in migrants once Title 42 ends this week. El Paso, whose migrant support system has already been under intense strain in the past week, declared a state of emergency on Saturday so that people waiting outside in near-freezing temperatures can get additional resources.

SBF is reportedly “ready to face the music.” When the imprisoned FTX founder appears in court in the Bahamas today, he’ll reverse his attempt to block extradition to the US, per Reuters. That would set him up to be brought stateside and face a host of fraud charges related to the meltdown of his crypto exchange.

Congress winds down. This will be the final week of the 117th Congress before the next iteration takes over on January 3. Lawmakers have quietly accomplished a lot in the past two years, but they still need to pass a $1.7 trillion bill this week that would fund the government through September.

Happy Festivus. The winter holiday alternative invented by Frank Costanza on Seinfeld will be celebrated Friday with a ceremonial aluminum pole and the Airing of Grievances. Speaking of, if you didn’t open this email every day this year, you are on my naughty list.

Everything else...

• Hanukkah began last night and runs through next Monday night. Saturday night is Christmas Eve.
• Wednesday is the first official day of winter. I know…
• Babylon, starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, hits theaters on Friday.

Stat: The dramatic shift to working remotely in the tech sector has gutted central San Francisco, which the NYT called “perhaps the most deserted major downtown in America.” Office occupancy has stalled at ~40% of pre-pandemic levels and almost a quarter of buildings are vacant (up from 5% in 2019), per security firm Kastle. The city desperately needs to figure out how to put these empty buildings to work (apartments?) to claw back lost tax revenue, experts say.

Quote: “I truly and to this day regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film.”

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, director Steven Spielberg expressed remorse about the impact of his 1975 movie Jaws on the perception of sharks. Research has shown that the number of large sharks on the Eastern Seaboard of North America dropped 50% in the years following the release of the movie, which depicts a great white shark terrorizing a Northeastern seaside town. Spielberg has been chatting with the media about his new semi-autobiographical film, The Fabelmans (which I just saw and it’s great).

Read: Identical twins aren’t *that* identical. (Science Fictions)

Dive back into the week:

• Shallow dive: The most popular people names for dogs.
• Medium dive: Should SBF have tried to flee the Bahamas?
• Deep dive: 99 good news stories from the year.
• Cannonball: A sprawling investigation of Putin’s failures in Ukraine.

How many of these videos have you seen? Here are the most-viewed TikToks of 2022.

Learn business basics: The Brew’s Business Essentials Accelerator is built to teach business fundamentals to anyone, no matter their industry. Applications for the eight-week virtual program are now open for February 2023. Learn more and apply today.

Finding the perfect gifts for your friends and family can be tricky, but Morning Brew is here to make it easier. We’ve scoured the internet to find the best gifts for even your pickiest friends—whether they’re fitness buffs, gadget collectors, or aspiring chefs.

Browse the guide here.

Turntable: It’s the penultimate Turntable of the year. If you enjoyed the use of that word, you’d probably do well in today’s puzzle. Play it here.

Listomania

This list was just released in one company’s year-end report. What do these 10 items represent?

1. Burrito (bowl or regular)
2. Cheeseburger
3. Cheese pizza
4. Pad Thai
5. Chicken quesadilla
6. California roll
7. Fried chicken sandwich
8. Caesar salad
9. Chicken tikka masala
10. Boneless wings

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Merry and bright? Not quite: The holiday season is prime-time for cyber threats. But with IT Brew's guide to protecting your company from cyber threats, IT managers can ensure all systems are safe and secure.

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