Musk siphons ‘@X’ From Photographer

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In the latest episode of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the platform has undergone a rebranding and is now known as “X”. This name change brings about an interesting aspect that we’ll delve into in this post.

Along with the name switch, there’s also a shift in the official account from @twitter to @x. However, there’s a small problem – the @x account was already owned by photographer Gene X Hwang from Orange Photography. Or was, at least.

According to a recent TechCrunch article, Twitter did not reach out to Gene, the owner of the @x account, before deciding on the rebranding. As of now, Hwang still possesses the @x account and is open to negotiation with the company if they are interested in obtaining it.

Previously, the @x account had been set to private and was listed on the Orange Photography account, identifying its founders as @x and @jackhuynh. But presently, it appears that Musk has taken control of the @x account. The original @Twitter account has been closed, with its description directing users to follow @x instead.

The TechCrunch article speculates whether discussions will take place or if the account name will simply be acquired and repurposed by the company. Considering that Hwang has had no contact from Twitter so far, it’s likely that the latter scenario will prevail.

Ever since Musk got involved with “X” last October, controversy has surrounded the rebranded platform. It almost seems like he acquired it to see how quickly he could cause it to implode. Soon after assuming control, he terminated half of the staff. A week later, the coveted blue verification badge became available to almost everyone, albeit at a cost.

Musk made some questionable banning choices, removing people who shouldn’t have been banned and unbanning others who probably should have remained blocked. This move, combined with other actions such as discontinuing third-party clients, imposing exorbitant pricing for developers through the relaunched API, and laying off more employees, has stirred further disruption within the community.

To intensify matters, Twitter became a private platform, requiring users to log in to access tweets. And now, it has transformed into “X”. There are numerous other occurrences between these events, but it seems like quite the journey.