Twitter changed its official handle from @Twitter to @X on Wednesday, but—as with many things involving Elon Musk—it was a swap marred by stupidity, disorganization, and the crushing of a random user. Until Tuesday evening, the @X handle was not held by Twitter, but rather by a San Francisco-based photographer named Gene X Hwang, who made the account in 2007. Hwang told TechCrunch on Wednesday that he’d received an email from the company telling him his account was “affiliated with X Corp” and that he would be assigned a new handle. As “a reflection of our appreciation,” the company told him, he would be offered compensation—not money, but “a selection of X merch and an exclusive visit to X’s HQ to meet members of our team.” The letter was signed simply “X.” Hwang shrugged off the bizarre ordeal to TechCrunch, saying, “Maybe I should ask for the bird from the sign since they were dismantling that yesterday too.” As of Wednesday, he was tweeting (xeeting?) from @x1234567998765, including one tweet (xeet?) that read, “Alls well that ends well.”
