Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has left the original creator of the @music handle high and dry. Here’s the latest.
The Twitter rebrand to X now has Elon Musk combing through registered handles to pick out his favorites, like a child reclaiming toys handed out. First to be reclaimed was @x, with the original owner receiving no warning and no compensation. Now Musk has done it again, this time with the @music handle.
The original owner of the @music handle on Twitter was Jeremy Vaught, who says he snagged the handle more than 16 years ago. “I’ve been running it ever since. Just now, Twitter / X ripped it away. Super pissed,” Vaught shared on Twitter with a screenshot of the email he received concerning the takeover of his handle.
“The user handle associated with account @music will be affiliated with X Corp,” the email begins. “Accordingly, your user handle will be changed to a new user handle. However, we appreciate your loyalty and want to minimize any inconvenience this may cause. At this time we will be changing this handle to @musicfan.”
“We have listed additional handles that you can choose from below. Just respond to this message and we can assist you in making the change. All data associated with your prior user handle, including followers and following data, will be transferred to your new music handle.”
- @musicmusic
- @music123
- @musiclover
“Please reply if you have any questions. Best regards, X,” the email concludes. While it’s unclear what Musk plans on doing with the @music handle at this point, it’s pretty safe to speculate he may be looking to emulate TikTok. Turning the @music handle on Twitter/X into something that fosters the discovery of music via a Discovery Feed would be one example.
Now that Musk is going down the list and reclaiming handles that he wants to be affiliated with X Corp, is anyone’s Twitter handle safe? If you registered @games or @gaming would the same thing happen? It’s unclear at this point and a bit worrying for anyone trying to build a brand on what used to be a competent social media site.