Twitter is dead. Long live X Corp., a new company based in Nevada that has merged with, and taken over what was once Twitter. The move is likely an attempt by CEO Elon Musk to create a new “everything app” modeled after China’s WeChat.
The news that Twitter, Inc. no longer exists and has been merged into X Corp. was revealed in an April 4 court filing related to a lawsuit launched by far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer against Twitter and Meta, from which she was deplatformed. Although the saga involving Loomer is not particularly relevant to the story, the court filing, first noticed by user @SpacTrader110, was the first public announcement of the merger.
While Twitter has not released any official information about the merger or the name change, CEO Elon Musk tweeted “X” on Tuesday. The cryptic message had no other information, but suggests that he is confirming the behind-the-scenes change of ownership structure.
Read: Elon Musk Overruled Tesla Engineers Who Knew Removing Radar Was A Bad Idea
Wait, Twitter soon to be X?
— SpacTrader110 (@SpacTrader110) April 4, 2023
Merger filed with Twitter and X Corp and X being the survivor? pic.twitter.com/oNDkZufsHQ
That doesn’t seem to have led to much of a change for Twitter users or workers yet, but means that the company is now legally owned by X Holdings Corp. It is incorporated in Nevada, and based in San Francisco, California, reports Gizmodo.
Musk’s affinity for the letter X is well known, as it features in the name of a Tesla vehicle, the Model X, and his rocket company, SpaceX. He has also previously expressed interest in creating a new app called X, which he has described as an “everything app”. Based on previous comments, the app is likely to resemble China’s WeChat, a social media service owned by Tencent. The service allows users to send messages, functions as a social network, and allows consumers to make payments directly through it.
Reports suggest that Musk previously told Twitter staff that WeChat is “actually a great, great app, but there’s no WeChat movement outside of China. And I think there’s a real opportunity to create that. You basically live on WeChat in China because it’s so useful.”
WeChat has been criticized for creating a social media monopoly for Tencent and for cooperating with the Chinese government to censor and surveil users. Nevertheless, Musk has said that his acquisition of Twitter could accelerate his dream of creating a comparable app by “3 to 5 years, but I could be wrong.”
Given Musk’s history of being combative with the media (Twitter has been sending poop emojis to journalists requesting more information), it is difficult to know the specifics of what this means and when it will occur. However, it is clear that this move is likely the first step in Musk’s plan to significantly change the future of Twitter or, rather, X Corp.