Elon Musk made a bold move to rebrand Twitter, now known as “X.” However, this transformation wouldn’t be complete without securing the official @X handle on the platform. It turned out that the original @X account was held by San Francisco-based photographer Gene X Hwang’s Twitter handle since March 2007. Despite having ownership of the handle for over 16 years, Hwang found himself facing a sudden change in his online identity.
Twitter simply took over the @X username, notifying Hwang via email that the handle now belongs to the company. Hwang mentioned that there was no monetary compensation involved in the process. Instead, Twitter offered to transfer the @X account’s history and followers to a new handle of Hwang’s choice, along with some merchandise and a potential meeting with the management team. However, Hwang declined the meeting, finding it possibly awkward.
Accepting the change without putting up a fight, Hwang chose the temporary handle @x12345678998765 while he considered a new name for his account. Reflecting on the situation, he expressed that receiving something for the original @X account, like compensation, would have been a nice gesture, though he didn’t feel it was mandatory.
Before the rebranding, Hwang had mentioned that he would have been open to giving up the @X handle in exchange for payment. However, Twitter did not reach out to him before the company’s rebranding as X. It’s worth noting that usernames on platforms like Twitter can have significant value, as demonstrated by past offers made to other users for their unique handles.
Twitter’s terms of service state that the platform reserves the right to reclaim usernames without liability to users. This rule was already in place before Elon Musk acquired the company. The ownership of usernames can be a matter of concern, and some handles have been subject to hacking attempts and unauthorized takeovers in the past.