Stephen King's Message About X Catches Elon Musk's Attention

Stephen King expressed his frustration with the rebranding of Twitter to X, prompting a reaction from the social media platform's owner, Elon Musk.

Musk, whose purchase of the social media giant last year has been marred by financial troubles, outages and other controversies, announced that he would be rebranding the platform in a series of X posts back in July.

The changes included a shift away from the traditional bird iconography the platform had used since its 2006 launch to an X. He also changed the name of the platform to X, a move that was met with widespread derision at the time.

Months before the logo change, Musk revealed that he was hoping to create an "everything app," modeled on a Chinese app called WeChat, that allows users to send messages, perform banking tasks, pay bills, and order cabs.

X's CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote at the time that it was "an exceptionally rare thing—in life or in business—that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square[...] There's absolutely no limit to this transformation. X will be the platform that can deliver, well....everything."

In the months that have followed the rebranding, horror author King—who has publicly criticized Musk on a number of occasions—revealed that he remains a detractor of X.

"This X s***'s got to go," King wrote on Thursday. He added the hashtag "#ChangeItBack," which has since been shared by several X users in solidarity.

King's post caught the attention of Musk, who responded, "𝕏𝕏," in an apparent sign that he would not be moved on the rebrand. The South African-born billionaire added an emoji of a face blowing a kiss.

This is not the first time that King has weighed in on the platform. Back in April, he offered advice to Musk in regard to the blue check verification marks, which at the time had recently been removed from most accounts on the social media platform.

Twitter removed check marks from accounts that had previously been verified that belonged to "notable" figures "in government, news, entertainment, or another designated category." The accounts that still had the check marks were subscribed to Musk's "Twitter Blue" service, which sells them for $8 or more per month.

King wrote on X that he received a notification from his account saying that his blue check was restored and that he was subscribed to Twitter Blue, even though he hadn't. Musk commented under King's post, writing, "you're welcome namaste."

King advised Musk in a separate post that he should give the fee for his blue check mark to charity. "I recommend the Prytula Foundation, which provides lifesaving services in Ukraine," King wrote. "It's only $8, so perhaps Mr. Musk could add a bit more."

Back in November 2022—weeks after Musk officially acquired Twitter—King expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction the micro-blogging platform as taken.

"I think Elon Musk is a visionary," he wrote. "Almost singlehandedly, he's changed the way Americans think about automobiles. I have a Tesla and love it. That said, he's been a terrible fit for Twitter. He appears to be making it up as he goes along."

"Suggestions are welcome Mr. [King]," Musk responded, using a crown emoji in place of King's last name.

Another user suggested in the thread that Musk invite King to Twitter headquarters in San Francisco to "have a face-to-face conversation," a tweet to which Musk simply replied: "He is invited!"

Musk has commented on a number of King's X posts regarding himself and X as a whole. A few days after Musk initially took over Twitter, the author wrote: "I think I liked Twitter better in the pre-Musk days. Less controversy, more fun."

The businessman responded playfully with a ghost emoji. "I'm still a fan of you [to be honest]," Musk said in a follow-up post. King reportedly did not respond, and Musk later deleted the comment.

In November 2022, Musk reiterated his admiration for King, when he said in an X post that the renowned writer is "one of most creative people on Earth. While I may not agree with everything he says, I do actually want to hear it."