August 1, 2023

Gene X Hwang, a San Francisco photographer, has lost his Twitter handle @x after Elon Musk renamed the social media platform to X.

Hwang had been using the handle @x since 2007, but Musk’s company took it over after the rebrand. Hwang was offered a new handle and some merchandise as compensation, but he is considering switching to a different platform.

The rebrand is part of Musk’s plan to make X “the everything app,” a hub for communication, banking, and commerce. However, some experts are skeptical that X will be able to achieve this goal. Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University professor, questions whether Musk has garnered enough trust from users to establish financial services within the platform.

Hwang is among those who have been looking for Twitter alternatives. “I’ve been checking out other options like Threads and Mastodon and Bluesky,” he said.

The sources for this piece include an article in NPR.