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Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/twitter-took-x-handle-from-longtime-user-and-only-offered-him-some-merch/ [arstechnica.com]

Elon Musk's decision to rebrand Twitter as "X" [arstechnica.com] wouldn't be complete without a change to the company's official Twitter account. The @X handle was already taken by a user who registered it over 16 years ago, but that wasn't much of an obstacle—Twitter simply took over the username and offered its longtime owner some merchandise but no monetary compensation.

San Francisco-based photographer Gene X Hwang [orangephotography.com] was @X on Twitter [archive.org] from March 2007 until yesterday. "They just took it essentially—kinda what I thought might happen," Hwang told The Telegraph [telegraph.co.uk]. "They did send an email saying it is the property of 'x' essentially."
[...]
Hwang was quoted as saying [thesun.co.uk] several years ago that he turned down offers as high as $40,000 because he didn't think they were legitimate. "I really didn't entertain any of them seriously," he said at the time.
[...]
In January, a New York Times report [nytimes.com] said that "Twitter has considered selling user names to generate new revenue as its owner, Elon Musk, tries to resuscitate the company's business." Under Musk, Twitter has also gotten more aggressive about purging accounts [arstechnica.com] that seem to be inactive.

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