--- title: "Trolls Immediately Steal Twitter CEO’s Handle After “X” Name Change" description: "Another stone left unbranded in Twitter's disastrous X rebrand: CEO Linda Yaccarino's former username, which was quickly snagged by a troll." date: "2023-08-02" modified: "2023-08-02" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/trolls-twitter-ceo-handle-x" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "elon musk" - "social media" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Trolls Immediately Steal Twitter CEO’s Handle After “X” Name Change ![Another stone left unbranded in Twitter's disastrous X rebrand: CEO Linda Yaccarino's former username, which was quickly snagged by a troll.]() *Electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk meets with French Minister for the Economy and Finances on the sidelines of the 6th edition of the "Choose France" Summit at the Chateau de Versailles, outside Paris on May 15, 2023. Since 2018, the Choose France Summit seeks to promote France's economic attractiveness and encourage international investment across the country and brings together hundreds of leaders from the largest multinational corporations. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: LUDOVIC MARIN via Getty Images\* ## Xtreme Disaster Twitter's disastrous "X" name change strikes again. Last week, for whatever reason, Twitter owner and [noted t-shirt wearer]() Elon Musk decided it was high time for Twitter to go through a [massive rebrand](). To be fair, the change was somewhat inevitable; [as *Insider* recently noted](), Musk has been wanting to own a website called X since his PayPal days, and has talked about turning Twitter into a WeChat-like "everything app" since he took over the company last year. But regardless of inevitably, rebrands are no small thing — and if someone were to rename, say, the globally recognized site they purchased for a cool [$44 billion]() just last year, you'd probably expect them to summon up some shred of attention to detail. Twitter's rebrand, though, has been all kinds of careless. And now, in-between [ill-advised signage](), [multiple apparent]() [trademark issues](), [at least one police visit](), and [piecemealed infrastructure weirdness](), X-formerly-Twitter seems to have forgotten to tie up yet another loose end: ensuring that Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino's former handle was locked away from pesky trolls. Amid the X launch, Yaccarino, who formerly went by @lindayaccs on the social media site, changed her handle to @lindayaX. Clever! But in the shuffle, it seems that no one at the company thought it might be a good idea to make her former username unavailable. Unsurprisingly, [as caught by *Gizmodo*](), a troll swooped in almost immediately to take Yaccarino's old handle and [transform it into a parody account](). ![]() ## XVideos The troll wasted no time in tweeting — if we still call it that — things like "[hello fellow Reptilians!]()" and [asking followers]() if X should revert back to Twitter. The profile also links to the porn website xvideos.com, presumably a nod to the fact that Twitter's new name and logo [definitely look like they belong]() to an NSFW content provider. But as *Gizmodo* notes, it doesn't look like the account is [breaking any rules](). The site allows parody profiles as long as they're explicitly marked as such; this one is clearly denoted as parody in the username. That said, though, X/Twitter has certainly taken a "rules, shmules" [approach to handle ownership lately](). If Yaccarino decides she wants her old account name back, we're sure she also retains the ability to snap it up without paying the proud new owner. **More on X:** [*Elon Forced to Remove Strobing "X" Sign from Twitter Building*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()