Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) is now in the business of selling unused account handles. These handles are reportedly up for grabs, starting at a hefty price tag of $50,000.
What Happened: As reported by Forbes on Friday, X has launched a marketplace for acquiring user handles left dormant by original users. A team within the company is leading the initiative aptly named the @Handle Team.
The @Handle Team from X has reached out to prospective buyers through emails, offering a flat fee of $50,000 per handle.
Forbes, which got hold of these emails, has chosen not to reveal them in their entirety to protect the privacy of the recipients. These emails also shed light on recent modifications to X’s @handle guidelines, procedures, and pricing.
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While X’s existing username registration policy doesn’t permit the release of inactive usernames, Musk had hinted at such a program as early as November 2022, expressing concerns over the large number of handles taken by “bots and trolls.”
There were reports of X employees discussing the sale of Twitter handles in January, and by May, the company had started purging inactive accounts from its site.
Why It Matters: The selling of unused Twitter handles comes at a time when the value of X has reportedly seen a significant drop, falling below 50% of Musk’s purchase price.
Concerns about Musk’s unpredictable leadership and advertisers’ worries about content-safety rules on the platform have likely contributed to this decline.
Twitter’s sudden rebranding to X in July this year has also garnered mixed reactions, and it has again been sparked by renowned author Stephen King, who expressed his disapproval earlier this week.
The sale of unused Twitter handles could be a strategic move by Musk to revive interest and value in the platform.
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