Twitter CTO, Elon Musk introduced the biggest-ever change to the social media platform by changing its official name to X. He didn’t just change the name, Elon Musk also got rid of the iconic blue bird logo and replaced it with an X. But it doesn’t end here, he further took over a man named Gene Hwang’s account, who was operating under the handle @X, without his permission.
Gene Hwang Speaks About Twitter Taking Over His ‘X’ Username
Gene X Hwang who is a co-founder of Orange Photography, an event photo company spoke with Mashable regarding the incident. Hwang is also the original registered user of @X and had been using the account handle for 16 years before Elon Musk took it from him. He stated that he just received a generic email from the support team informing him that his handle name is being taken over.
“[I] got an email basically saying they are taking it.”
He also stated that he wasn’t contacted by anyone from X before they took over his handle username. Hwang had mentioned earlier that he was expecting to have a back-and-forth with someone from X’s team to have a discussion over the username takeover.
“I am keeping an eye out on DMs and such to see if they do touch base about it.”
He further added that he uses @X since it’s his middle name initial.
“X is my middle initial and often I’d use genex as a handle for online services.”
Although, Hwang was not surprised with how things unfolded once Twitter was rebranded as X.
“I had suspected this could be an outcome and as such I wasn’t too upset.”
There were reports earlier that Elon Musk might offer something to Hwang due to rumours of the company’s potential launch of a service where users could bid on rare, unused handles. But all Hwang received was a generic email informing him that his account has been redirected to a new username handle. He shared a post on X captioned “Alls well that ends well.”
Alls well that ends well
— x (@x12345678998765) July 26, 2023
This is what Gene X Hwang’s Twitter handle looked like before Elon Musk took over his @X handle.
In another interview with NBC, Hwang revealed that the email also conveyed that he will be offered X merch and a visit to the X headquarters. The email was signed ‘X’.
“Additionally, as a reflection of our appreciation, you will also be provided with a selection of X merch and an exclusive visit to X’s HQ to meet members of our team.”
The Twitter handle on the social media platform now operates under X.
