Elon Musk’s X takes @X handle from longtime Twitter user

When Elon Musk announced that Twitter would go forward under the name X, his company didn’t even hold the @X account.

Until Tuesday evening, that username belonged to Gene Hwang, a San Francisco photographer who held it since 2007. Hwang said he received an email from the company he had suspected might be coming: X had taken the handle and offered little in return.

“I had suspected this could be an outcome and as such I wasn’t too upset,” he said in a phone interview.

The email, which Hwang shared with NBC News, left him with few options. It said he could have his pick of any unclaimed or inactive usernames, along with some smaller perks like X merch and a visit to X's headquarters.