In the early hours of this Monday, the announced replacement of the traditional name and symbol that had accompanied the brand since its creation in 2006 was implemented.

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of Twitter – now X –, said to CNN:

It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.

An X can now be seen where the iconic blue bird would usually appear, a decision made by Twitter owner Elon Musk, who had warned about these changes, which he described as an overhaul move for the brand, which has faced heavy losses in ad revenue.

Controversial Decision

The brand change joins a list of controversial decisions made by Musk, who acquired the social network at the end of October 2022 for $44 billion.

Beginning with a series of mass layoffs, followed by transformations in the company's working conditions, Musk also implemented policy changes that caused frequent service interruptions at Twitter, a network that until then had shown itself to be a stable platform that did not present such technical problems.

Also, since he took control of the brand, Musk has stood out, more for sharing his political inclination and conspiracy theories, than for promoting the network, which in the midst of his management has made several brands rethink their decision to invest in advertising on Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/IwcbqMnQtA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023

For their part, several personalities of interest have left the network or have refused to pay the amount to obtain the certified account, which has represented a major setback for Musk who currently faces significant opposition from organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, Free Press, and GLAAD.

Musk has emphasized that the platform aims to allow all legal expression, something many users have associated with an increase in hate speech.

The “Thread” Threat

Some see this makeover as a response to the launch earlier this month by Meta, a rival platform to Twitter and the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Although the initial enthusiasm for the Threads introduction has now waned, Twitter took a heavy blow as its direct rival surpassed 100 million user registrations in its first week.

Until Musk declared this information private, Twitter reported 438 million active users.

To Musk's benefit, his rival's platform still needs to work on weeding out mass spam, attracting advertising, and including features like a desktop version of the app, a feed of the only accounts a user follows, as well as an edit button.