After rebranding, X took x from its original Twitter owner and offered him merch(npr.org)
npr.org
After rebranding, X took x from its original Twitter owner and offered him merch
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/29/1190891082/twitter-x-account-owner-gene-hwang-elon-musk
3 comments
"Hey, sorry for no warning, we took your name"
"What are you gonna give me for it?"
"We can give you some merch with the name on it, to remind you that we took your name"
Literally how it went (slightly paraphrased to inject my opinion above):
https://twitter.com/birdhustle/status/1685348651780964352
"What are you gonna give me for it?"
"We can give you some merch with the name on it, to remind you that we took your name"
Literally how it went (slightly paraphrased to inject my opinion above):
https://twitter.com/birdhustle/status/1685348651780964352
Twitter, the company, owned it. He was just using it while they didn't want it.
This strongly implies that there is no possible privately owned platform. The profit motive is too powerful to be resisted, and too vague to be enforced by any cultural norms.