X to sell inactive usernames for 7.5 million yen each

It has been revealed that X (Twitter) is releasing inactive usernames and trying to sell them for 50,000 dollars (about 7.5 million yen) each. It is said that some users have already been approached for sales.

X Is Reportedly Selling Inactive Usernames For $50,000 | PCMag

The username for X is set between 4 and 15 characters in length when registering, and can be changed at any time later, but a username that is already in use cannot be used twice. In the past, it was possible to register names with less than 4 characters, so people who still use usernames with a length of up to 4 characters are considered to be very old users.

After acquiring Twitter in November 2022, Elon Musk issued an ``amnesty'' to reinstate the accounts of Donald Trump and others whose accounts were previously frozen by Twitter.

In this regard, Musk said, ``Although some accounts have been abandoned, a huge number of accounts have been consumed by bots and trolls. We will aim to free these accounts starting next month (December 2022).'' ” mentioned.

Some have simply been abandoned, but vast numbers of handles were consumed by bots/trolls. Aiming to start freeing those up next month.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

November 24, 2022

In December 2022, he posted, ``1.5 billion account names will be released soon.'' According to a survey by the research company DemandSage , the number of accounts at this time was 1.3 billion, and the number of active accounts was 237.8 million.

Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022

X's Help Center has a `` policy regarding accounts with no trace of operation '', that is, a policy regarding inactive accounts, which states that ``usernames with no trace of operation cannot be used at this time.'' The determination of whether it is active is whether you are logged in at least every six months.

On the other hand, in May 2023, the English version of the policy was rewritten to the policy of deleting accounts that have not logged in for 30 days as 'dormant accounts.'

Twitter announces that it will delete dormant accounts, and those who have not logged in for 30 days will be recognized as dormant accounts - GIGAZINE

It is not clear how many accounts are determined to be 'inactive' and deleted, but behind the scenes some users are already being approached to purchase inactive usernames. It looks like it was sent by email.

Please note that the policy prohibits ``acts that create the impression that there is an affiliated relationship or cause confusion by using another person's trademark,'' so even if inactive famous accounts are released, It may be difficult for other people to use it freely.