X is finally following through on its long-rumored plans to sell old user handles, and some of the most sought-after usernames could fetch millions of dollars. The company shared more details about and opened a waitlist for its “handle marketplace,” that will enable paying subscribers to request and buy “inactive” handles.
According to the company, X will make two types of “inactive’ handles available: “priority” usernames that may include “full names, multi-word phrases, or alphanumeric combinations” and “rare” handles that consist of “short, generic, or culturally significant names.” Subscribers to X’s Premium+ and Premium Business tiers will eventually be able to request some “priority” handles as part of their subscription. The company says @PizzaEater and @GabrielJones are possible examples of such handles. Notably, this process requires what essentially amounts to an indefinite subscription to X Premium, as the company says it will revoke priority handles if an account’s subscription lapses.
The process for acquiring a “rare” handle is a lot less clear. X says that it will offer some rare handles through “public drops” and that those will be given away for free “based on merit” and that multiple users will be able to apply. X will take a user’s engagement and “past contributions” to the platform into account when deciding who gets these handles. The company will also make some handles available for sale via an invitation-only process. These prices will be “fixed” and “determined by a number of factors including popularity of word, character length, and cultural significance.” These usernames could include common one-word usernames like @one, @fly or @compute, according to examples provided by X. They could also be incredibly expensive.
“Some handles are included with a Premium+ or Premium Business subscription,” X wrote in an FAQ. “Others – especially Rare handles – may be priced anywhere from $2,500 to over seven figures, depending on demand and uniqueness.” People who buy a supposedly rare handle will need to have a Premium+ or Premium Business subscription in order to start the process, but won’t be required to maintain one in order to keep the handle.
In a separate “handle transfer agreement,” X describes its handle-buying scheme as an “evolving initiative” that it hopes will be adopted by other social media companies in the future. “We are establishing a new standard for social media handles—a framework we hope the broader industry will adopt, similar to how Community Notes has influenced online transparency,” the company wrote.
Andrew Allemann, the publisher of Domain Name Wire, a publication that tracks the domain name industry, says that there are some similarities between X’s plan to sell handles and the marketplace for expired domains. “For a long time, people have been buying and selling handles off of X, and X hasn’t been getting a cut of that,” he told Engadget. “So in some ways, I think this will get some of the better handles to be more used on the platform.”
But he said he would have concerns about some of the terms in X’s policies, which allow it to “reclaim” handles if they become inactive. The company’s current “inactive account policy” defines an inactive account as one that hasn’t been logged into for 30 days. “I would definitely want a firmer contract if I were to pay money for a handle,” Allemann says. “I would want some rights baked into a contract that says it can’t just be taken away. I certainly want a longer period of inactivity before it can be taken away.”
X also has a history of commandeering desirable handles from users that were actively using them. The company took the @X handle from a San Francisco photographer in 2023 without compensating him, though he was offered “merch” and a tour of X’s headquarters. That same year, it also took the @music handle from a longtime user with more than a half million followers. Last year, the company swiped the @America handle from a reported Donald Trump critic. The handle is now used by Musk’s super PAC.
X’s plan to give away handles based on “merit” raises additional questions about who the platform could decide to reward and penalize. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Allemann says that all social media users should remember they don’t own any of the content they publish on company platforms. “If you create your website, you control it, and people can always come to it. On social media, the single billionaire owner of it could decide they don’t like you, and it’s pretty much within their rights to kick you off, or demote you, or change the algorithm to impact you as well.”
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