The online platform X, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, is creating a marketplace to redistribute unused profile names.
Oct 20, 2025, 06:22Oct 20, 2025, 06:22
The option will initially only be reserved for paying customers with Premium Business and Premium+ subscriptions.
New monetization idea: Elon Musk wants to sell profile names on X.Image: keystone
X divides the user names into two categories. So-called priority user names consist of names or word combinations. Subscription customers will be able to apply for it free of charge and should receive an answer within three days. The catch: When users cancel or downgrade their subscriptions, their profiles are reset to their original account name.
A different procedure is planned for “rare user names” that are, for example, very short or special – such as “@Tom” or “@Pizza”. They should either be able to be purchased at the invitation of X or made available through public application processes. You keep purchased usernames even when the expensive X subscription expires.
Musk bought the short message service Twitter almost three years ago for around $44 billion and renamed it X. The entrepreneur, who is also politically active, announced some time ago that usernames that were occupied by accounts that were no longer actively used would be released again. (sda/dpa)