Elon Musk dropped on users over the weekend that Twitter was going to be rebranded as X. In the transition, many users noted that the @X handle was already taken by someone.
The person that registered the @X username was Gene X. Hwang who signed up for the platform more than 16 years ago.
This week, Musk and X Corp. took over the @X handle and seemingly didn’t give Hwang a choice.
“[I] got an email basically saying they are taking it,” Hwang said in an e-mail exchange with Mashable.
Hwang had previously talked to the outlet who said they were awaiting Musk or X Corp. to contact him about his username. Hwang, who is a co-founder of Orange Photography, said the e-mail informing him he was losing his account came from the generic “support@twitter.com” address and not from anyone specifically working at the company.
Although many thought the user that had the @X handle would be getting a sweet deal in exchange, Hwang said they only offered “an alternative handle with the history of the @x account” as well as “some merch and to meet with management if I like.”
Hwang said he is most likely not taking the offer to meet up with X Corp. management but will continue to stay on the social media platform. His username for now is @x12345678998765 and he already made his first post since the transition.
“Alls well that ends well,” Hwang posted.
The @X handle has been taken over by Musk’s company and the @Twitter handle has been deactivated. A description on the latter profile reads, “This account is no longer active. Follow @x for updates.”
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