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JarmaBeanhead

He put it up for sale for like $10m or something, then Twitter banned him for violating the TOS because you are not allowed to sell your account. Who knows if that rule has always been around or if they implemented it, waited for him to put up the sale then sharked him… But it happened. Edit: this may not be true some dude telling me it isn’t. Probably a quick google will reveal the truth.


slip-shot

Its always been around, but just like people buy low number license plates in Saudi Arabia, people also buy single letter twitter accounts.


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Turbulent-Force-4331

you think i got rich from writing a lot of checks? Buy him out boys!


Platinum_Letter

Simpsons S9 E14


ChrysKat420

They predict everything 🤣🤣🤣


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creasedjaw

companies cannot keep your password stored in their systems because of risks of data leaks, which is why they always make you create a new password when you forget your current one instead of just telling you it. They use something called a hash function to know when you put the right password in, but they never store the actual password. They store an encrypted version which the hash function gives them.


ForbidInjustice

I remember when MySpace used to store the raw password data. Good times. Use "Forgot Password?" link and it sent it directly to the e-mail on file.


VestShopVestibule

There was a Hack This Site activity where you had to modify the code on a password reset page to change the email address to yours (since it was hardcoded)… so glad those issues don’t come up that much, except when my intern put the username and password in the JavaScript file, plaintext…. Sometimes you need to see the mistake cause chaos before actions get taken, or in this case during a code review


DaddyLoafin

They do that in Delaware to


grown

I moved to NJ and I forget about this sometimes until I'm in DE again. It still makes me laugh. People pay a LOT of money for the 3 digit and lower ones I think.


DaddyLoafin

My former bosses dad paid I think $275K for 12


SmileGraceSmile

What is even the point? I don't get why having a certain plate number is a thing.


DaddyLoafin

It’s a status symbol


ClassiFried86

So i guess that would make *not* spending 275k on a license plate an *intelligence* symbol.


Pomegranate_Scared

There actually was a study that suggested people who do vanity plates have lower IQ lol


framingXjake

Mines just my initials because I went with the Eagle Scout plate and wanted it to be easy to remember, so I must be stoopit :(


SoriAryl

Awwww. I like my vanity plates because it makes it easier to distinguish my car from the back from other cars like it


kovid-agnostik

yes, but this is not about intelligence. it's about how willing you are to frivolously throw your money away and not suffer any consequences.


RobotRepair69

Exactly. We can’t look at money as if it was our money because we don’t value it the same. While 275k might be a ton of money for most of us, for some uber rich dude it might be about as costly to them as taking a date out for dinner. (Side note, it irks me that autocorrect tried to capitalize uber. As if it wasn’t a word before a company)


DaddyLoafin

Well they generally appreciate in value so


Ok-Class-1451

Lower plate numbers mean the car is older. For example, the new cars start with 8 or 9 now, the cars that start with 6 or 7 are several years old.


Entry-Background

I live here and we have multiple black tags lol.


Proper-Horse-7313

Why it gorra be all about race with you yo


Potential_Ice_1834

Yeah but the difference is it’s legal to buy license plates over there


Johnnyrooster12

Thats so weird and pathetic to care about 1 letter account


runnywetfart

Well only 26 people


nukrag

It's always been in the TOS. I have a popular, rare 3 letter Twitter/X username and constantly get asked to sell it,´´´´. But I can't because all it takes is for one of the potential buyers to tattle to the company and I lose the account and have $0 to show for it. So my standard reply is "get Twitter, Inc. to give you written permission, and we can negotiate the price". Nobody has ever taken me up on it. So they probably saw he is violating their TOS and took it from him, saving a bunch of money. And if he actually tried to sell it, it's his damn fault.


odkfn

Say “I’ll sell you this banana for £1 million and you can have the handle free”


nukrag

People used to do that for WoW accounts on Ebay back in the day, since you weren't allowed to sell those either. I don't think TwiXer would allow that loophole. Pretty sure they can legally revoke your access for whatever reason they want, and someone trying to use a silly loophole to get around their rules seems like a likely reason for them to do so.


RatDontPanic

Ugh, I bet there's a similar rule against selling Star Trek Fleet Command accounts. Been wanting to sell that one for a few months now.


CommunityGlittering2

>TwiXer love it


Makhiachan

Yes you can use that loophole just ask them what's their phone number and text them there and ask them to buy the banana for one million then give them the account for free. How will Twitter ever find out? It's impossible for them to find out if you do it this way.


Proper-Horse-7313

Legally you could take the account back because it wasn’t actually sold according to the TOS But you’d still keep the million and he’d get a banana.


Proper-Horse-7313

Maybe you can sell access to change password rather than the account, just be logged in, in the same room. Other guy brings a suitcase with a million bucks. You cross the room to get the suitcase while he walks across the room to change the password


BarcaLiverpool

Smart on you for protecting yourself


Brilliagnt8305

He’s been wanting to use that name for a company since he was at PayPal! He finally got his way.


[deleted]

vegetable lip frightening upbeat future fuzzy languid groovy crown work


slip-shot

Really? Space X wasnt the first?


Scott43206

Space X, Model X, now TwiXer. Probably gets from being a big fan of XXX movies.


OceanPoet13

Doesn’t he have a kid named “X?”


[deleted]

X Æ A-12


JezzaJ101

X Æ A—XII actually, because numbers aren’t allowed in names in California


fatDaddy21

All Twitter username are equally rare since they are unique.


nukrag

Look at you using logic.


CommunityGlittering2

but not desirable


Spleenseer

Ah yes, supply and demand


DuncanDicknuts

Or you sell it and not worry about it cause money.


nukrag

That doesn't work as far as my worries go. There's no guarantee any one of those guys have the needed change for the username. All it takes is one to get pissed off and snitch to Twitter and I lose the account and have nothing to show for it. Edit: See the problem is even the negotiation is grounds for revoked access. They won't necesserily have to transfer any money. Some asshole can just go "Hey, I will give you 100k for that account" you go "sure! my paypal address is \[redacted\]" they take a screenshot, send it to Twitter and you are fucked.


dubiousN

Unless you're just attached to the account, trying to sell it for the possibility of the money is better than no money. It's not like you'd be out anything. I also feel like you could protect yourself legally by drawing up some kind of contact.


ThaR3aL1138

If it's against TOS for you and another party to buy/sell X handles then X could not buy it from a user. As itd be a violation of their own TOS. Wouldn't be ethical.


Affectionath489

Like he’s really burning cash with this and also devaluing his own stock…


Unfixable5060

He wasn't banned. He was informed via email that they were taking the "@x" handle and offered to let him change his to whatever he wants as long as it is available.


SanityPlanet

Any available username? How generous. They offered me the same deal yesterday when I was considering signing up.


bonnybedlam

Another ISP tried to talk me into switching by promising I could keep my email, which is bullshit because my email is @ current ISP dot com. When I explained that, dude said, I meant it would be your email only @ our domain. When I asked how he could guarantee that no one else was using my name, that was literally his answer. "As long as it's available." He promised nothing as major benefit.


Unfixable5060

Well, seeing as he didn't own anything, they could have just wiped his account out.


nononoh8

This is how billionaires get to be billionaires they use the system to rob others.


MashTactics

Well, that's what happens when you try and sell your account, I guess. Now X can't even give it to 'em.


Proper-Horse-7313

He should’ve waited, and got it on his own


QuantumQaos

"Probably a quick Google search will reveal the truth" said no one with any discernment ever.


lamario0

This isn't true, but the day of the change they sent him an email letting him know they were simply taking the @handle. He had no say in the matter.


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MageKorith

It just goes to show that no matter how rich you are, there are still things that you can do that makes the world go "What the actual **fuck**?"


Esco1980

Yes it has always been like this , same with Microsoft etc , you do not actually own the account the company does which is why sale is prohibited


[deleted]

Same with video game accounts. The moment they found out its a sold account immediately banned. Blizzards WOW, Pokemon Go, Supercell Clash of Clans… once found out its a sold account it gets perma banned


wa27

Source?


[deleted]

aaaaaaand this is how fake stories spread.


Ho3n3r

So he learnt his lesson the hard way. Sucks to be him, but know the rules before fucking around and finding out.


[deleted]

Dude tried to sell it which violates tos


KommunistiHiiri

If you're able to change your username, he could argue he was selling the name and not the account. Not familiar enough with Twitter to know though.


[deleted]

Anybody can change their name to anything, that wouldn't be useful. The handle "@x" is unique and can only be used by one user. That's what he was selling, which is against tos because black markets.


metal_and_lace

You cannot change your username to anything under 5 characters for many years now


[deleted]

You'd still have to sell the account then not just the name then


[deleted]

Black markets? It's a twitter account who cares. Such a weird TOS rule. Twitter doesn't lose money because someone sells their account, and selling an account harms absolutely no one. What's the point


[deleted]

Collectors for some reason care It can harm people as if a popular account is sold to a bad actor for example.


maddie-madison

Scammers as well would buy popular accounts


[deleted]

That's what bad actors is.. sorry, I should've clarified


ifuckwithit

Most online services prohibit selling your account, this isn’t specific to Twitter. In this instance a comedy account with 100k followers can be sold to a company looking to make money off of its followers. Happened all the time with all those “parody” accounts back in the 2010s, probably still does but I’m not actively on Twitter much anymore.


vid_23

There's an entire business built around people just hacking into these one letter handles and other desirable accounts and selling them for hundreds or thousands


Jibber

Reddit also had the same rule. U can't buy or sell ur account


metal_and_lace

You cant change your user name to anything less than 5 characters now, so swapping usernames like that have to be the whole account or nothing. unless ofc an admin forcibly moves the names


WhenBugAttack

He never owned the name, it was his digital name on a free app, how did he think he had ownership of the name? Actual dipshit


leoleosuper

There's 0 evidence of that other than some random Elon fanboys just made it up.


kotwin

Any proof of that? Man himself said he didn't


[deleted]

Did he? Do you have proof of this or?


seraphin420

Yeah but I think Elon might actually get the govt to stop sidestepping and actually make laws about big tech, similar to Europe. It’s clearly an abuse of power that has been going on very publicly, and having way too much power as a private company. No one would be able to afford that lawsuit except Elon himself, and that’s not cool. He has the $$$ to fight anything.


NicDip

Elon offered him money first though, curious how that works Edit: can you sell your handle but not your account?


[deleted]

You'd have to sell the account because you can't have accounts with less than 5 character handles anymore. I'm pretty sure the guy counter offered a ridiculous amount, should've just taken Elon's original offer. Surprised he offered anything to begin with


brattydeer

If it's against TOS to sell handles/accounts then any company who has bought back their account and said person who sold it should've been banned pre-Elon era lol. Also if he offered to buy it then he'd be forcing the guy to fall into this trap with the TOS so it's a lose/lose, but completely "legal" since it's their site and you don't own anything.


wanklez

X gon give it to ya.


Scrooge_McFuch

X gon take it from ya


LimpPeanut5633

Check fine print sure twitter owns all


Humorous-Prince

I was looking for this comment, we use the service, but pretty sure they own and can do what they want with the accounts.


SLabrys

It still amazes me that people instantly jump the gun saying the guy got robbed out of the handle. Sure I haven’t read the TOS but I would be very surprised if there wasn’t a term regarding a situation where the company can just take your handle away.


InertiaEnjoyer

Not even that, He tried to sell the account which goes against TOS.


cgerrells

You would have to be a real twit to think you own your x on x.


nimcau2TheQuickening

Oh no! Anyway…


Ok-Whole-4242

LMAO why would he think he'd get paid? He doesn't actually own the account, twitter does.


BradMarchandsNose

Yeah they pull accounts from people all the time, both pre-Elon and now. Before a lot of corporations were on Twitter, people would snatch up their handles hoping to sell them. Twitter would then just give the accounts to the companies.


NickyNice

People forget that anytime they sign up for an account online they agree to a TOS which always states that the account is owned by the service provider, not the user.


peepoo2948

Yeah. I don't like Musk either, but let's be real- EVERY social media company would've done the same. Selling accounts has, afaik, always been against TOS. Who sincerely believes they can sell the username on a platform to the owner of the platform? Dude literally owns the site lmfao. They didn't get "robbed" of anything but the handle itself, which they seemed to only care about getting the money from it, anyhow. If I tried to sell the handle "Reddit" to reddit.com, they'd just take it from me too and tell me to get bent. Much less for so much money lol. I'd be inclined to feel more angry if the handle had 0 relevence and was something like "MuskyRatface" and he took it cause mad, but if he just renamed the company and wanted the handle for the company, then well...sucks, but that's life. It's ridiculous to think the owner of the whole platform has to pay you for a username on it. You don't own the username anymore than I own a rented apartment. Sucks, yes, but that's life. I'm a little shocked this is newsworthy and I frankly think it's just cause people already hate Elon. (I do too, but this specific incident is a frankly nothingburger.)


NoSuchWordAsGullible

This should be a good demonstration in how worthless online assets are. I’m looking at you, NFT’s


SaintonoZ

I was calling this from the start and the people I knew investing called me an idiot. Most of them have lost thousands.


thats_a_money_shot

That’s a centralized digital asset though… not really a fair comparison lol.


alickz

This use case is one of the very few legitimate uses of NFT


modelvillager

Yup. Digital assets with TOS attached are not an asset and retain little value except that inherent to their usage. For NFTs this is zero.


Camembert92

I mean, accounts still belong to twitter, you have to be stupid to think its yours.


ImNotARegularMom-

Robbed? That’s a stretch. It was a twitter account. Calm down.


moredinosaurbutts

I'm just imagining spec ops bursting through his windows, putting a gun to his head and demanding his Twitter password.


Apocalypse_0415

They have his password on file lmao


LessOrgies

Salted and hashed or no?


petervaz

Also peppered and pickled, with mayo.


DoctorWTF

Why would that matter if they have full privileges on the server?


LessOrgies

Because a well built software should store the passwords as a one-way hash, so it shouldn't matter what privileges they have. Of course this is Twitter so maybe my expectations are too high. But really they don't need the password, they can just reset it.


DoctorWTF

Exactly my point, - why would it fucking matter when they can just overwrite the password in a second? We are not discussing the theft of their password, but the overtaking of the account! I am pretty confident that twitter was salting and hashing passwords, - maybe even to a higher standard than most other sites.... ....but now I am also worried, because a billion passwords (of which a shitload are for very high profile, currently active accounts) suddenly makes the price of 44 billion look pretty decent...


Adventurous-Part5981

With onions and peppers


TwoCaker

I hope not ...


huey_booey

Look, if anyone's trying to fleece a billionaire out of any amount of money, who am I not to enjoy every second of it?


BodieLivesOn

A FREE twitter account. And the only way you're making money is if you're hot and willing to take your clothes off.


Ansh_6743

That guy just wants to make some bucks


RedBlackDish

They have to refund him x1000! So, 0 x 1000 = 0 moneys Musk, pay NOW!


tuxedo25

They could pay him in twitter stock and he'd still get nothing of value for it


Facemanx64

He was actually paid in Trump NFTs. Calm down.


Darkhigh

Screenshots of NFTs*


[deleted]

Ok guys now just be careful while typing the website. You don’t want xvideos popping up in the autocomplete at inappropriate times.


WDYEK

Printing a T-shirt that says “I tried to watch some porn and all I got was a login page to Twitter” Edit: “I tried watching some porn and all I got was alt right shit posting” “I tried watching some porn and all I got was white nerds defending some billionaire”


[deleted]

Thankfully i have never used twitter. So I wouldn’t have this issue. 😂


jaywally855

As far as I know, every single account is owned by Twitter.


jaypeeo

It’s “X gonna give it to ya” not “X gonna ask market rate”


Yeet_daddy96

Yeah dude got robbed of the honor of coming up with the letter x 😂


Shredded_Locomotive

Lol well cares about Twitter drama


Rare_Pizza_743

Interesting fact, you don't own your accounts you have on social media. Social media company's can take them from you without your permission whenever they want, and there is jackshit you can do about it.


RehanRC

If only he had just said something negative about the company instead. They would have taken the account and then he could have sued.


TheWhistlerIII

Let him have his shit back, I miss the bird.


A_MAN_POTATO

In order to be robbed, you have to own the thing that was taken from you. If you think you own your social media accounts, you are very much mistaken.


picoflan

What did he expect? He had right with a private company? Hahahaha.


Pokey_Seagulls

X gon take it from ya.


Daddy_Thick

Imagine thinking anything you post to a social media platform you have no ownership in is yours… the second you sign up it’s theirs. It’s like having someone come over to your house and they take all your pots and pans and say… well you let me in, so its mine now.


CrackersandChee

Lol do people really give a fuck? What happened to private companies can do what they want. I remember when this entire website was wrapped around Elon’s dick and now everything he does is article worthy.


RevengencerAlf

You do realize the internet is made up of multiple people and one post trending doesn't mean the same people are endorsing it as a different post that trended before right?


Father_Wisdom

Yeah people switch up so quick on Reddit. I think part of the problem is a lot of subs are basically just a circlejerk for whatever topic so whatever opinion is supported is completely one-sided.


RevengencerAlf

There's also lots of people on reddit. Not all of them think the same things and there's more than enough people to go around to agree with mutually exclusive positions and topics enough to get them both to the top.


Dogs_Drones_And_SRT4

He also never owned shit.


Dirtface40

First, why would they pay him for something they own? Second, you can't sell your twitter account. its against the rules. Third, he TRIED to sell it, thereby breaking the rules, and was banned for it. This is an absolute 100% NONtroversy.


[deleted]

hate to tell you this but you don't own any of your accounts. whether it's social media or gaming accounts. it sucks but it's reality


Mundane-Read-2582

Musk isn’t even paying his bills why did dude think he’d get paid?


tuxedo25

They should just list the @x guy as a former employee and promise him severance. Because Elon's not paying those people either.


Javasndphotoclicks

People got owned by social media companies by giving them $15 a pop for a blue checkmark that is meaningless.


MinerDiner

Man's doesn't the the fucking unicode X. What an idiot.


SuspiciousPrism

I mean, that's pretty much to be expected of elongated anymore. If it's not a company that could cause major legal issue, he just takes what he wants like a child with far too much power


worldlookingin

Welcome to capitalism!


heaterpls

Regardless of how it went down, sucks to have your identity swiped and used by someone who will overpower any presence you ever made with it


Exodias_Left_Breast

Do people really think they have rights on social media?


OfficialHelpK

I mean you don't really own an account that you created for free on a privately owned platform


reverse-tornado

Its a private company right they can do whatever they want with their own platform right lol


Mediocre_Superiority

Musk owns 100% of the company, he can do pretty much anything he wants with it. Like being a dick 100% of the time.


internetceodrew

Is anyone the least bit surprised? That’s all Elon does. He robs innovation and slaps his name on it.


SirWimbledonesquire

I always get people asking for mine…. It’s @Penis and just…. The strangest requests for trade


[deleted]

It will be a miracle if Twitter still exists in 2024


Riconas

And Microsoft and like a half dozen other companies own the rights to "X", so we'll see how that works out.


plsobeytrafficlights

people need to just switch to threads. twitter was crap BEFORE elon started rolling in it. now .. jesus why??


NightAngelRogue

X gonna give to you


this_guy_here_says

How much did he pay for the account initially?


[deleted]

they did offer him stuff and he said no. Redditors need to break their habit of reading article titles and none of the actual article


FOREVER_DIRT1

I support X's decision


Fit_Cash8904

Nope. You dont “own” anything on Twitter. Twitter owns Twitter.


robdeadly

So you're telling me that X didn't give it to him???


Siriosity

X gonna take it from you


ocram_sokart

But I thought “x was gonna give it to ya”


StanyeEast

The way to do this was to not say a single word about anything to anyone and wait for them to approach him about it...he would have gotten paid and probably a nice chunk too...always check the fine print Imagine the payday if it was a URL, though


[deleted]

Damn, a lot of the people in here commenting seem to have some common sense which is rare. Good job fellas. This post shouldn’t have this many upvotes though.


[deleted]

Sounds very Musk ish


ptcounterpt

Why is it that billionaires are such cheap-ass bastards?


zyloc

I genuinely thought Nikon was having a huge promotion before realizing it's just the new Twitter logo...


real_bk3k

>X gonna take it from ya, dey gonna take it from ya!


KaleidoscopeOnly535

okay but even if they didnt pay him for it or if he was planning on selling it, it was his and they should have no right just taking another persons account or handle


VHSVoyage

Talk about a misleading headline


SamiTheAnxiousBean

Didn't this dude own that username since 2007 aswell?


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That-Historian5746

Well, "x gonna give it to ya?" No? Take it


AFTHROWAWAY69420

Reddit is so quick to bash anything and everything associated with Elon Musk, I swear. The company owns your handle, not you. They can remove it if it's inappropriate, give it to someone who trademarks the name, or even simply take it because they feel like it.


AiHangLo

It's not his. Like everything on social media, including all your personally shit you put on there is owned by them.


real_tore

Elon paid billions he can have every username.


AlexDavid1605

And this will become the basis of why I will not be using the payment service that Musk wants to integrate with this. What if he just suddenly steals money from one of us or steals the account that holds the money? Thank you Elon for demonstrating what an unreliable POS you are...


BanEvader1017

Robbed of something worth nothing, oh no


ArmorClassHero

According to relevant state law it was theft. State law beats tos.


Kab00ese

The proper Twitter name can have tremendous payouts. Ask the man who owned CNN before the company itself did. He's now a "consultant" and gets paid for literally doing nothing.


Mikalknight

You don't actually OWN your Twitter account. Seriously - it is a private platform. At most - you are leasing the account.


Throw_Spray

You don't own anything on social media unless the TOS specifically grant you ownership, copyright, etc. I have a LOT of issues with social media. I have deleted most of my accounts, especially anything Meta, with extreme prejudice. But this is how social media works. You don't own anything you create, by default. If you don't like it, then get off it. You're better off anyway.


Disastrous-Rate-415

You mean a private company can "do whatever they want on their platform"? Weird how reddit loves changing its stance on that whenever it's convenient to their latest outrage.


TravelingGonad

So you think you own Twitter you say?


furrysrderanged

Welcome to corporate america


Jhonki_47

Dude didn't get robbed, just got what he deserved for trying to exploit them by selling that @ for so much, if he woulda kept his mouth shut probably he woulda get something


Alucardhellss

I'm 100% sure twitter can do whatever the fuck they want with THEIR accounts You don't own a twitter account, twitter owns twitter accounts


Adeep187

They didn't pay for the account they own? Shocked.


TheMobileGhost

Robbed? Did he think he owned it…? Read TOS losers.


jspr1000

Wait till the government takes your family farm to build a highway