Recently, Elon Musk changed Twitter’s name to “X” and the official company account to “@X.” The original owner of the handle was Gene X Hwang, who was informed that it belonged to X. The user who works for the photography and videography company Orange Photography received don’t a warning nor any reimbursement from Elon Musk’s X.
As a “reflection of appreciation,” Twitter wrote to Hwang thanking him for his loyalty to the platform and offering him X merchandise as well as a trip to its headquarters in San Francisco. On his account, Hwang has 53,000 followers.
Renaming Mishap: Twitter’s Quest for the “X” Handle
One of the many botched steps in the renaming of Twitter to X, owner Elon Musk’s favorite letter, was the incorrect handling of the @x handle. Twitter reportedly failed to acquire the intellectual property rights to the “X” brand because Microsoft, Meta, and other parties are reportedly claiming ownership of various “X” trademarks. Additionally, it failed to obtain official permission to take down the Twitter signage from the building, which required police to halt their work. The website and mobile app weren’t fully updated; although the “X” on them, they still urged users to “search Twitter” or push a button to “Tweet.”
Additionally, as TechCrunch just learned, it didn’t make an advanced effort to obtain the @x Twitter handle for itself.
As a result, Twitter’s account was renamed to “X,” but its handle has remained “@Twitter” up until that day.
Given the corporate rebranding, Hwang was surprised the company hadn’t reached him about the @x account he owned and had put it privately. However, he stated he would be open to a discussion with the company if they wanted the handle for themselves. When sold on secondary markets, popular online usernames typically fetch thousands of dollars in compensation. The handle was simply taken from Hwang, but it turns out that no financial compensation was provided. Of course, Twitter is correct, but the conclusion is not great for the owner.
When Twitter changed its official handle to @x and Hwang tweeted from his new account, @x1234567998765, we covered the corporate takeover of the @x handle earlier today.
Alls well that ends well
— x (@x12345678998765) July 26, 2023
Through a series of tweets on Sunday, Elon Musk, the CEO of X Corp., hinted at the rebranding, implying that Twitter will say goodbye to its current brand and transition to the new identity. Musk made it clear that the purchase of Twitter by X Corp. is aimed to ensure free speech and act as an accelerator for X, the Everything app.
The name “Twitter” made sense, in Musk’s opinion, because the platform primarily consisted of back-and-forth exchanges of 140-character messages similar to birds tweeting. However, when Twitter evolved, allowing users to post almost anything, including lengthy videos, the renaming to ‘X’ reflects the platform’s bigger capabilities.
