Twitter dark mode will be the default, Musk says

Updated on: 28 July 2023

Vilius Petkauskas
Deputy Editor

Twitter’s CEO billionaire Elon Musk said that dark mode would be the default setting for the social network’s users.

The extreme makeover Twitter has been going through since Tesla and SpaceX owner Musk bought the company continues. The company’s CEO said that the social network’s interface would be in dark mode by default.

Dark mode is a feature that makes the interface a darker color scheme. Some users find the setting less straining to the eyes than a mostly white setting, which is currently the default.

While at first Musk said Twitter, which is undergoing a rebranding campaign to become X, will have only dark mode, later he changed his mind.

“A lot of people have asked to keep light mode, so we will, but the default will be dark and dim will be deleted,” Musk said.

Twitter’s abrupt rebranding, announced last Sunday, was met with mixed reactions. The move will reportedly cost Twitter billions in lost value, as one of the world’s best-known social media sites will become a somewhat lackluster one-letter brand.

The blue bird, which is now being retired, is known as Larry. This, Twitter’s co-founder Biz Stone said in 2011, is a tribute to basketball star and Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird.

However, Musk has a history of affection for the letter “X”. X.com was the original name for Paypal. It’s in his SpaceX company name, it’s also in the name for the Tesla SUV, and Musk has previously said he wanted to turn Twitter into “X, the everything app.”

Now he’s finally doing something with the X.com domain he bought back from Paypal in 2017. The domain X.com already redirects a user to the Twitter homepage, and the social media site is now adorned with the X logo as of Monday morning.