Twitter: Elon Musk rebrands platform to 'X'

Elon Musk has replaced Twitter's blue bird logo with a white X and launched a major rebranding of the social media giant. Musk has said tweets will now be called "x's."

Why X? 

Before acquiring Twitter for $44 billion (€39.7 billion) in a messy takeover in October 2022, Musk had said buying the company was part of speeding up his ambition to create an "everything app" he calls "X."

After buying Twitter, Musk named the parent company X Corporation. The billionaire's rocket development company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, is commonly known as SpaceX. Musk also founded PayPal in 1999 as a startup called X.com.

Musk said tweets will now be called "x's," in response to a tweet Sunday asking what tweets will be called under "X."

Musk's app for everything

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, a former NBC advertising executive who joined Twitter in May, wrote on the platform that X would be the "future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities."

The rebranding comes after Musk said earlier this month that Twitter has lost nearly half its advertising revenue since he took over last October.

Mass layoffs, reduced content moderation and rising hate speech and misinformation on the platform since Musk's takeover have contributed to turning away advertisers.  

Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce, told the Associated Press that the rebranding will further alienate Twitter's traditional audience.

"They won't get it," he said. "It's a fitting end to a phenomenal unwinding of an iconic brand and business."