Twitter is selling inactive usernames for a flat fee of $50,000, reports Forbes, and has assembled a sales team to organize the liquidation of the many names unavailable because they are squatted, moribund, or belonged to banned users or bots.
While the company's website still suggests that it "cannot release inactive usernames at this time," an internal group known as @HandleTeam has reportedly started working on a marketplace for unused handles, Forbes reports. Current sales have happened through emailed solicitations to potential buyers requesting the flat fee. In November of last year, in a thread about offering amnesty to previously suspended accounts, Musk claimed that "vast numbers of handles were consumed by bots/trolls" and that he was "aiming to start freeing those up next month."
It seems high, doesn't it? But of course, he is frequently high.
