The Blubber

X/Twitter is reportedly working on a marketplace for unused handles/ usernames with prices reaching $50,000 or more, per Forbes.

As per emails acquired by Forbes, there is a team known as @Handle currently in the process of establishing a marketplace dedicated to the sale of usernames that have been left unused by their original registrants. The price tags attached to these usernames, in some instances, reportedly amount to a flat fee of $50,000.

Forbes has reviewed emails that were sent by active employees of X, and these emails have not been entirely disclosed to safeguard the privacy of their recipients.

Elon Musk, after acquiring the platform in October 2022, made it clear that he intended to address the issue of unused accounts. He stated in a post from October 2022 that he was "definitely" planning to tackle unused handles. In November 2022, he expressed his aim to commence the process of freeing up these unused handles the following month. In December 2022, he tweeted on the 9th, mentioning, "Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts."

In May, Musk tweeted that he had initiated the process of "purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years." This action led some users to request that the company spare the inactive accounts of deceased account holders.