Report Suggests Elon Musk’s X Could Generate Large Profits From Selling Obsolete Twitter Usernames
Elon Musk has brought a transformative impact to X (formerly Twitter). In addition to rebranding the platform, it has also changed core functionality, including the behavior of blue checkmarks – mostly to the effect of the addition of X Premium (formerly Twitter Blue). Now the platform is said to bring one more addition in the form of selling old inactive X-grips.
According to a Forbes report, X’s team has begun working on a “marketplace” that includes user IDs that people can buy. The publication further alleges that X went overboard and demanded up to $50,000 from potential buyers for the potential purchase of the username.
That information was revealed in several emails seen by Forbes, and came from “active X employees, stating that the company recently made updates to its @handle guidelines, process and fees.” Elon Musk in particular has been interested in implementing this program for some time.
In November 2022, shortly after he bought X for $44 billion, Musk had said he planned to “release them next month” and that he knew “bots and trolls” were taking over many of the handles. As a result, Twitter employees began to take action the following month, planning to free up more than 1.5 billion usernames. Later in May, X began removing inactive accounts from the platform.
Whether or when this will be implemented remains to be seen, but this could certainly be useful for users to access a specific username for a fee.
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