X set to put a stake in Twitter's heart as it kills the domain and possibly wreaks havoc with 2FA access

Two years after Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X, most of us still say we "tweeted" because saying, "I Xed" sounds ridiculous. But that vestigial act may soon lose its last tenuous thread of connection to the once-iconic brand name. Next month, X plans to "retire the Twitter domain."

In the scheme of things, this isn't a big deal. We've mostly stopped saying and writing, "on X (formerly Twitter)," and when you open X, there are virtually no indications that it ever featured a bird-related name. I said "virtually," but more on that in a bit.

The news of the impending deprecation of the classic domain comes by way of X Safety. The account posted a...er..X telling everyone that by November 10, they want all accounts using security keys as 2FA (two-factor authentication) "to reneroll their key to continue accessing X."

That post was followed by a flurry of questions, prompting the Safety account to clarify that the change was not related to security and would affect only passkeys and users of YubiKeys. And that's when they finally explained the reason for the change: "Re-enrolling your security key will associate them with x[.]com, allowing us to retire the Twitter domain."

For those who don't know, 2FA is the best way to protect your accounts. It uses, for instance, third-party security apps like Google Authenticator to generate a unique code you need to log in to the account. Since that code usually appears on a device in your hand, it's the best way to confirm that it's you and not some bad actor trying to access your account. This domain update might temporarily break that connection and login process.

I imagine the Twitter domain retirement is like someone stamping out the still-burning embers of a major fire. Twitter was euthanized as a brand years ago, with the logo pulled from the former San Francisco headquarters and the blue bird stripped from the app and website. But it hasn't been easy to kill.

As I mentioned, some of us still say "tweet." If you want to embed an X post on a website, it takes you to a page that still features the bird logo and still shows the "Twitter.com" domain in the post URL.

My guess is that Musk and company are finally ready to clean our or at least throw water on the last of those glowing embers. Still, I had to ask Musk on X if he could comment on "core benefit, and are you concerned about disenfranchising millions who signed up for the OG platform?"

As you might've guessed, Musk has yet to respond; it's been years since he replied to me directly on the platform.

Decisions like this, which can have far-reaching impact (possibly even breaking legacy embeds and other domain connections) would normally be taken with some care, but that's not X or Musk's MO.

Musk's reportedly unpredictable and cavalier decision-making has, in recent months, driven out the company's last CEO, Linda Yaccarino, and, more recently, CRO John Nitti, who left just days ago.

Fly away

Perhaps there'll be no fallout, but I have to expect that some users who aren't paying close attention to the Safety account might miss the memo and find themselves locked out of what they remember as Twitter until they solve these X-created login issues.

More broadly, the euthanization of the Twitter domain is, perhaps, the last act in the long process of dismantling the once vibrant and largely positive platform: one that helps us understand Arab Spring, learn first-hand about the raid that brought down Osama Bin Laden, and see the first, stunning image from the miracle Landing on the Hudson.

This is X now, and it has little to do with that once beloved platform that Musk has remade in his own unpredictable and often churlish image.

Goodbye Twitter.com, you were something special in your time, but I guess everything has a season, and yours is about to be full and finally done.

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