Elon Musk is at it again. And by “it,” I mean making inexplicably bad and poorly thought out decisions. After changing Twitter’s name last year, the billionaire with a flair for pretending he’s a genius businessman and an unhealthy obsession with the letter X decided it was time for his next move. He had Twitter X’s engineers finally start switching the platform over from “Twitter.com” to “X.com.” Soooo, how well do you think that one’s going? *Spoiler* It’s not going well.
Here’s what happened: Earlier this week, X implemented a feature that forcibly replaced posts on iOS that used the URL “Twitter.com” to “X.com.” It was first rolled out for people using the site through the iOS (Apple) app. It sounds simple in theory but it blew up spectacularly. It’s like someone used the “Find + Replace” feature in Microsoft Word. Basically, *anything* with the word “twitter.com” was automatically changed to “x.com” For example, if you typed in the domain “NetfliTwitter.com,” the post’s text would show up as “NetfliX.com,” despite taking people to the first URL. Did users pick up on this and take advantage of it? Yup! Is it also ripe for scammers to have a field day? You betcha!
X’s Twitter dot com problem: If a user typed in “Twitter.com,” they would see “Twitter.com” as they typed it before hitting “Post.” But, after submitting, the platform would show “X.com” in its place on the X for iOS app, without the user’s permission, for everyone viewing the post. And shortly after this revelation, it became clear that there was another big issue: X was changing anything ending in “Twitter.com” to “X.com.”
Why this is a big deal: Let’s say someone owns the domain name “NetfliTwitter.com.” Why would they own that domain name? Because if X is automatically changing anything that includes “Twitter.com” to “X.com,” then that means posting “NetfliTwitter.com” on X would make it appear in posts as “Netflix.com,” the popular movie streaming service. And if a user clicked the linked “Netflix.com” text that appears in that post, it would really take them to “NetfliTwitter.com.” Because while X is changing the text that the user wrote, the URL it links and directs to remains the same as the user posted.
A dream scenario for phishing campaigns: Some users on X noticed this very problem and found that it could quickly be utilized by scammers, hackers, and other bad actors. X user @yuyu0127_ quickly registered the domain name “NetfliTwitter.com” in order to prevent it from being weaponized and put up a warning page on the URL about the potential issues in X’s changes. “This domain has been acquired to prevent its use for malicious purposes,” reads the headline text on “NetfliTwitter.com.”
Someone saved us from sex.com: Another domain name “seTwitter.com” was also registered due to its potential to be exploited as X would then change how the URL is viewed on the platform to “sex.com.” The X user, @amasato_mochi, who registered that domain name, also put up a warning page in order to put a spotlight on the issue. “Please be very careful not to access suspicious URLs,” reads seTwitter.com. “I will hold onto this domain for a year to prevent any harm.”
URLs on older posts were affected: According to some users, the change implemented by X also affected older posts. Meaning any instance where someone previously tweeted “Twitter.com” was being changed retroactively to “X.com.”
Patching it up: X eventually realized the issue and rolled out a patch later that same day for some of the domains affected by this change. “Netflitwitter.com” no longer shows up as “Netflix.com” for example.
More changes are coming: However, Mashable can confirm that the X for iOS app is currently still changing many other references of “Twitter.com” to “X.com.” We noticed that in one instance we found, the change was happening when “Twitter.com” was being used in a subdomain for another URL.
“A remarkable stumble” LMAO: It’s unclear if this version of the issue will eventually be patched too. It certainly seems like a bad idea to change the text in a user’s post without their permission. Regardless, the whole ordeal is certainly a remarkable stumble for X, especially when Elon Musk’s social media platform itself still forwards “X.com” to “Twitter.com.”
Gizmodo also reports that, “As of Tuesday, it appeared that X had reversed course and was no longer automatically changing “NetfliTwitter.com” to “Netflix.com” on iOS.” I tested out some URLs using words that end in X, substituting that letter for the word Twitter. On both my iPhone and MacBook, the words showed up in my post as written, so it looks like whatever patch they did is working as of now. I also did a test post, asking, “Does Twitter.com redirect now?” and in that case, the text of my Tweet *was* changed to read as “Does X.com redirect now?”
What a dumbass idea from a dumbass person. Does nobody run these things by a legal department or something first? This could have also caused catastrophic issues for companies and paid advertisers, too. Imagine thinking you’re clicking on a Netflix ad for, say, Wednesday, but the URL actually takes you to a site with a virus or phishing scheme. Honestly, it makes me really sad to see what Space Karen has done to a platform that I spent years curating to my preferences and really did enjoy using as a result. It was a place I went to after I basically abandoned Facebook during the Trump years. I used to think that Elno was doing his investors’ bidding and purposefully trying to ruin Twitter, but now I’m not so sure. He may just be that bad at running companies.
Photos credit: Lukasz Gagulski/Avalon and Getty
I do QA for IT platform changes as part of my job and this is my nightmare. Some exec gets a dumbass idea, forces it through on an accelerated timeframe, and it’s not properly regression tested. God, Elno is an idiot.
“God, Elno is an idiot” at some point this will become like stating water is wet 🤣🤣
He’s already in the postworld of Idiocracy…
SAME! I started my career in QA for retailers and have seen some shit, but this kinda thing used to keep me up a night. The email campaigns, the marketing, the PRINT marketing. Nightmare fuel. And everyone on his team is to afraid of getting fired or absolutely loves him so they say nothing.
@IShouldBeWorking – 10000x this – obviously nobody who’s left in product or engineering at [whateverthehell] either 1) has the technical knowledge, or 2) cares enough anymore to try to keep stupid from having its way.
It’s a really, really bad day when executives set their hearts on shiny things.
This is why Tumblr is growing again.
They even call people leaving Twitter, Twitter-refugees over there.
Decided it’s best to not use Twitter because it will only get worse. And the more people leave, the worse it is for this guy. Not only does he allow racism, sexism etc, but I think he actively spreads it and encourages others to do so too. So no need to support him, even by tweeting.
It’s pretty obvious that Musk is just trying to ruin twitter for every user. The virus and phishing problems are precisely what he’s trying to bring to people.
He’s so deeply into drugs and right wing conspiracies and paranoia – this is what happens when you fire all of the engineers.
Yeah. There is no plan; he’s not playing chess. He’s bad at business & very, very mentally unwell. Unless someone intervenes, I think Elon’s fate & that of his businesses is going in a pretty dark direction.
“especially when Elon Musk’s social media platform itself still forwards “X.com” to “Twitter.com.””
And there it is.
The Elno operating principle in a nutshell.
The ostensible reason for the change, doesn’t actually exist. It’s all superficial changes that cause chaos, needlessly.
It’s very Trump. Smoke and mirrors to distract, look like big things are happening, sucker the gullible.
The NYT podcast lays out how Twitter got it’s $1T valuation entirely through govt largesse. We all know about the massive energy rebates that made the cars more financially attractive to consumers. I didn’t know, however, that gas-chugging car manufacturers were forced to pay non-gas manufacturers… Like buying carbon credits or something.
Then he got into bed with the Chinese govt to make the cars roll off production lines more quickly, more cheaply.
Meanwhile, we could have pushed for higher gas mileage minimum mandates.
A 20 yo Corolla gets 35mpg. We could have pushed for new cars to be 50-100mpg, instead of SUVs that get, what – 10?
The green movement subsidized this jackhole. Just like those 90s Energystar certifications inadvertently enabled the enshittification of appliances.
No shiny new thing will save us. It’s a lesson that never sinks in
I listened to that episode earlier this week. That Chinese EV company, BYD, has now surpassed Tesla in sales.
I am convinced that the men who worship him know that he’s a fool but actually admire it because it makes them feel better about themselves. I’m no the smartest but I have ideas AND…I’m a man and that’s all it takes to rule the world.”
Losers and their loser king.
Twitter (It will never be X) is showing what happens when Musk is allowed to run an company unchecked. Theres an reason Tesla and SpaceX are designed to keep Musk as far away from the business and design side. Cybertruck shows what happens when Musk is allowed to design things. Twitter is being run into the ground because Musk is recklessly changing and adding features that no one wants. Thats not counting Musks aggressive courting of the worse humans.
Elon effed up with Tesla in China, and now BYD is out-selling them (even though they aren’t in the US). https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/cars/chinese-ev-maker-byd-supercar/index.html
Xitter (pronounced sh itt er) – I saw that somewhere and I think it’s the best possible path forward if Twitter must be rebranded.
Musk flatlined Twitter the moment he bought it. He can call it whatever it’s still not going to be what it used to be anytime soon. Not that Twitter didn’t have problems before.
Elon purchased Twitter for $44B and it is now worth $12.5B with viewership down 25%. The only spike in activities recently was during the “Where’s Kate?” drama. I remember when Musk limited the number of tweets you could read per day. Not sure if that is still in effect. It seems so tho’. As the Guardian recently wrote:
“From Elon Musk to the Murdochs, a small number of billionaire owners have a powerful hold on so much of the information that reaches the public about what’s happening in the world.”
Musk has entered the conservative realm of Murdoch el al. Nothing good will come out from this group. Elon as a ‘Free speech absolutist’ is BS. It’s in the interest of Capital barons not to allow that. Besides, free speech absolutism does not exist, it has limits, for example, slander or perjury. Elon wants to come across as a polymath but given his failure with Twitter, even his tech ability is now questionable.
What a dork. What is it with Elon and his affinity for one-letter names? I just cannot and will continue to refer to it as Twitter
Such a pouty losing man baby~