Changing names
'X' or 'X (formerly Twitter)'?
Jan 25, 2024
4 minutes
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Soon after it was launched in 2006, Twitter began to have an outsized role in the news. It was a place journalists both scoured for and floated ideas, and where news consumers argued about the significance of recent developments. Hashtags like #MeToo grew into movements that eventually permeated American culture.
Since Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 and changed its name to X in 2023, much is different. Journalists have documented these developments, lamented them and accused Musk of ruining a good thing.
Now, when news media refer to the platform, they often write "X, formerly known as Twitter." That prompted one NPR listener to wonder
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