According to a recent report by the New York Times, the micro-blogging platform Twitter is considering selling usernames to generate new revenue.
Ever since the $44 billion purchase, Twitter owner Elon Musk has been looking for new ways to generate more revenue. Since his takeover, many advertisers left the platform. The company has been reducing its internal revenue projections.
The new tactics consider organising online auctions where people can bid for usernames. This has been in discussion since December. More details of the bid are not yet known. It is not clear whether the new move would affect all usernames or a few. In December 2022, Musk tweeted that Twitter would soon free up 1.5 billion usernames, hinting at deleting inactive accounts. Buying and selling of usernames are prohibited under Twitter’s username squatting policy.
The new report came following Telegram’s auction announcement. In October 2022, Telegram has announced that it will organise an auction for usernames, for both individual accounts and channels, through a marketplace built on the TON blockchain.
Meanwhile, Twitter denied allegations regarding its data being sold online. It said that it was not due to the fault of the company’s systems.
