Variety: As HBO Max Returns, Max Account on X Says ‘Twitter Won’t Let Me Change My Name Back’

Story from Variety:

Max, the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max and now known by that name again, complained that X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, is not letting it switch back to its original moniker.

“twitter won’t let me change my name back,” the stream on max account wrote Wednesday morning on X/Twitter. The hbo max account on X, meanwhile, says this in its bio: “twitter won’t let us switch our handles.”

Later Wednesday morning, the stream on max account’s display name had been updated to “Actually HBO Max” with the HBO Max logo as its profile pic.

The irony, of course, is that Elon Musk summarily changed the name of Twitter to X in July 2023 (as X is apparently his favorite letter of the alphabet). Reps for X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Early Wednesday morning, Warner Bros. Discovery flipped the switch and after two years as Max, the streamer became HBO Max once again. The branding flip-flop was ridiculed online — which Warner Bros Discovery’s social team tried to get ahead of by sending out a flurry of self-deprecating memes poking fun at the name switcheroo.

According to X, changing the display name of an account should be straightforward. In a help article on its site, X says, “Your display name –– referred to as name –– is a personal identifier on X and is separate from your username. It can be things like something playful, a business name, or a real name, and is displayed next to your username. You can update your name at any time.”

However, another post on X’s help site says, “We currently do not offer a way to merge multiple accounts into one or migrate data (posts, following, or followers) from one account to another.”

Max’s reversion back to HBO Max is still in transition on other internet platforms. The stream on max account on Instagram has cut over to hbo max, while on Facebook the two separate accounts were still active — and, confusingly, the HBO Max page as of Wednesday morning said this: “HBO Max is now Max. Stream On Max.”

On YouTube, Stream On Max has been shifted over to hbo max — featuring the new HBO Max logo, but with the display name still reading “Max.”