Abu Zar Mishwani
On Friday, Elon Musk announced that the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, achieved a “new high” in monthly users, surpassing 540 million.
As X experiences organizational changes, Elon Musk shares user figures on the platform. The company aims to increase advertising revenue, which has seen a decline in recent months.
Recently, X’s executives have been making several statements about their platform’s growing popularity. This comes in the wake of Meta Platforms introducing a competing platform called Threads on July 5th.
Before Elon Musk bought Twitter in October, the platform had 229 million monthly active users in May 2022. Musk then stated in November that X (formerly Twitter) had 259.4 million daily active users.
After Elon Musk’s takeover, there have been rapid product and organizational changes at X. They introduced a paid verified blue tick service and began sharing ad revenue with specific content creators on the platform.
In May, Elon Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal advertising executive, as the CEO of X. This move highlighted the platform’s focus on ad sales while also aiming to boost subscription revenue.
Just a few days ago, Elon Musk stated that X is experiencing negative cash flow due to a significant decline of about 50% in advertising revenue and a substantial debt burden. However, he did not provide further details.
Elon Musk’s choice to rename Twitter as X might face legal complexities, as other companies like Meta and Microsoft already hold intellectual property rights to the same letter.
The name “X” is used and referenced in many trademarks, potentially leading to legal challenges. The company that was once Twitter might encounter difficulties in defending its “X” brand in the future.
Trademark attorney Josh Gerben says, “There’s a 100 percent chance that Twitter is going to get sued over this by somebody” He found around 900 active U.S. trademark registrations in various industries that already use the letter “X.”
Trademark owners can take legal action against others if they believe similar branding could confuse consumers. Trademarks protect brand names, logos, and slogans that identify the source of goods. Possible remedies for infringement include monetary compensation or preventing the use of similar branding.
Since 2003, Microsoft has owned a trademark for the letter “X” concerning communication related to its Xbox video game system. On the other hand, Meta Platforms, the creator of Threads, a new Twitter competitor, holds a federal trademark registered in 2019 for a blue-and-white letter “X” in fields such as software and social media.
According to trademark attorney Gerben, Meta and Microsoft might not take legal action unless they perceive that Twitter’s use of the letter “X” could harm the brand value they have established with it. None of the three companies provided a response when asked for comments.