Twitter User Names Could Be Sold Through Online Auctions

Elon Musk has been searching for ways for the business to earn much-needed money since since he acquired Twitter in a $44 billion deal in late October. The social media company may be set to auction off usernames of inactive accounts after cutting personnel and raising the cost of the premium Twitter Blue tier subscription, the New York Times reported on January 11th. The idea for the online auctions was initially discussed among staff last month, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, although it's still unclear whether Twitter has opted to implement it. Unlike the profile name, a Twitter username is shown after the "@" symbol and cannot be modified. There are a ton of accounts on Twitter that have not been used in years but whose usernames are still available. Photo Credit: TechCrunch Musk stated last month that the platform would "soon start releasing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts," but he made no mention of any intention to sell them to the highest bidder. He also didn't say why Twitter considers an account inactive. Also Read: Telegram launches video transcription & accuses Apple It would also need to decide whether to auction off all dormant accounts or just those that the business considers to be particularly valuable financially. Although trading accounts and their usernames is currently prohibited by Twitter's terms of service, such transactions have been going on since the service's introduction in 2006, with money being offered to people who hold in-demand handles. We should find out soon whether the platform will move forward with its intention to let individuals bid for the popular identities after Musk's tweet from last month suggested the site will soon start to work on making the usernames of dormant accounts available.