Twitter could sell usernames through online auctions

Since acquiring Twitter in late October in a $44 billion deal, Elon Musk has been looking for ways for the company to generate much-needed revenue.

After reducing headcount and raising the premium tier Twitter Blue subscription price, the social media company may be about to auction usernames of dormant accounts, according to a New York Times Report on Wednesday, November 11th

Two people with knowledge of the matter told the Times the idea for the online auctions was first discussed among employees last month, but it’s still not clear if Twitter has decided to act on it.

A Twitter username appears after the “@” sign and, unlike a profile name, cannot be changed. Twitter contains a large number of accounts that have been dormant for years and whose usernames cannot be taken by anyone else.

Last month, Musk said The platform would “soon start unlocking the 1.5 billion account namespace,” although he mentioned no plan to sell it to the highest bidder. He also didn’t reveal the basis on which Twitter considers an account to be inactive.

It would also have to decide whether to auction all dormant accounts or just those the company believes have significant monetary value.

While Twitter’s current terms of service prohibit the trading of accounts and their usernames, since the service’s launch in 2006, such transactions have pretty much taken place on the black market, with financial offers being made to those with coveted names.

With Musk’s tweet last month suggesting that the platform will soon be working on making the usernames of inactive accounts available, we should soon know if she will go ahead with her idea of ​​allowing people to use the to offer popular accounts.

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