Elon Musk's troubled ownership of Twitter is giving no signs of slowing down, but there was an uncharacteristically long gap before the billionaire acknowledged the results of his big leadership poll.

That public poll asked all users if he should step down or not, and the vote to get rid of him won with a 57.5% share of the results.

It took Musk over a day to directly respond to the outcome and confirm that, as promised, he would abide by it, albeit with some immediately added new caveats.

Firstly, he will retain control of the "software & server" teams, with the former comprising a huge proportion of Twitter's staff given it's a software-only business.

Secondly, funny though it may sound, calling prospective applicants "foolish" might seem to some observers to discourage people from seeking out the job.

This all points towards a potentially lengthy false interregnum - Musk will remain in sole charge, with the promise of an eventual handover that has deliberately vague timings, and the constant possibility of a backdown if he so chooses.

After all, the court of public opinion might be one thing, but a Twitter poll is still far from a legally binding commitment in reality.