Buy Inactive User Accounts on X: Tech billionaire Elon Musk's company, known as "X," has reportedly launched a new initiative to sell user accounts that are no longer in use. These accounts are being offered for a flat fee of $50,000. This move follows an earlier announcement in November 2022 when Elon Musk, expressed the idea of freeing up accounts that had been taken by "bots and trolls."
The concept of a "Handle Marketplace" was suggested by one of Musk's followers, where people could sell their unused accounts to interested buyers. Now, it appears that an X team called the "@Handle Team," is actively working on creating this marketplace for the purchase of account names originally registered but now left unused by their owners.
Emails obtained by Forbes reveal that X has reached out to potential buyers, requesting a fixed fee of $50,000 to kickstart the purchase process. The company has recently made updates to its guidelines, processes, and associated fees regarding these account transactions. Neither Elon Musk nor X has officially commented on this reported development.
Earlier reports had indicated that Elon Musk aimed to free up a substantial number of usernames, possibly up to 1.5 billion, in the near future. In May, X had already started removing inactive accounts from its platform. It's worth noting that X's valuation has seen a decline, now standing at $19 billion, which is less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid for the social media platform just last year.
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, shared that the company anticipates becoming profitable by early 2024. She also noted that the platform currently boasts 200-250 million daily active users and has welcomed back approximately 1,700 advertisers.
Inputs from IANS
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