【1997 Archives】

Stephen King997 Archivesonce again publicly calling out Elon Musk and how he's running X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

What is King blasting Musk for this time? The "X" name itself.

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"This X shit’s got to go," postedKing on Thursday. "#ChangeItBack"

And by "change it back," King is referring to the social media platforms former name, Twitter.

King has been a frequent critic of Musk since his takeover of the platform last year. In fact, this isn't even the first time he mockedMusk's name change. However, this time King is specifically calling on Musk to change the name back.

Unlike Musk's many other critics, however, the X owner has previously signaled that he's a fan of King and his work. This has previously led to back-and-forth exchanges between the two on the platform. 

• One year after Musk acquired Twitter: Traffic, revenue down across the board
• Elon Musk wants Twitter / X to replace your bank account. Here's how it'll work.
• Musk tanked Twitter in 12 months. Let that sink in.
• Twitter / X: Elon Musk considers a petty move to escape EU disinformation scrutiny
• Elon Musk’s X is under investigation for alleged disinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict

King's words appear to have some weight with Musk, as he previously haggledwith King publicly on the platform as what a fair price would be for X Premium, the paid subscription service then-known as Twitter Blue. Musk offered an $8 per month price to King as a counteroffer after proposing a higher number. King scoffedat the idea of paying for a blue verification badge at all, which led to Musk gifting the author with an entirely free Twitter Blue subscription.

Musk is obviously not going to change his mind on the "X" name because of this call-out from King. However, perhaps Musk will reply and provide King with some sort of counter offer like he did the last time. Maybe King, and only King, will be able to keep his twitter.com profile URL if and when Musk ever gets around to finally moving the site to the X.com domain name entirely?