X automatically changed 'Twitter' to 'X' in users' posts, breaking legit URLs

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the recent changes made by Elon Musk to Twitter, including the renaming of the company to "X" and the issues that have arisen from this change.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Twitter's Renaming to "X"

1. What are the key facts about Twitter's renaming to "X"?

• Elon Musk changed the name of the company to "X" last summer, but the main domain name is still Twitter.com and the platform is still commonly referred to as "Twitter"
• X has attempted to encourage users to cease referring to it as Twitter and instead adopt the name X
• The X for iOS app has been automatically changing any references of "Twitter.com" to "X.com" in user posts, without the user's permission

2. What are the potential issues with X automatically changing "Twitter.com" to "X.com"?

• This could allow scammers and hackers to exploit the change by registering domain names like "NetfliTwitter.com", which would then be displayed as "Netflix.com" on X, potentially leading to phishing attacks
• Some users have registered these types of domain names to prevent them from being misused, and have set up warning pages on them

3. How has X responded to these issues?

• X has rolled out a patch to address some of the affected domain names, but the issue of changing "Twitter.com" to "X.com" in user posts is still ongoing in the X for iOS app
• It's unclear if this version of the issue will be fully resolved, as automatically changing user-generated text without permission seems problematic

[02] Elon Musk's Transition of Twitter to "X"

1. What is the current status of the Twitter.com domain and branding?

• The main Twitter.com domain is still being used, and the platform still refers to itself as "Twitter" in official pages and communications
• However, Elon Musk has officially renamed the company to "X", though most people still call it "Twitter"

2. What are the challenges Elon Musk is facing in transitioning Twitter to "X"?

• The automatic changes made by the X for iOS app to replace "Twitter.com" with "X.com" have caused significant issues, including the potential for phishing and scams
• Despite the official name change, the Twitter branding and domain are still heavily used, making a complete transition to "X" difficult

3. How has the community responded to the renaming of Twitter to "X"?

• Many users are still referring to the platform as "Twitter" and are resistant to the change to "X"
• The technical issues caused by the automatic domain changes have further undermined the transition and caused frustration among users