As the furor over a hoax email purporting to come from Google and detailing how Gmail was to supposedly be closed down on August 1 starts to evaporate, Elon Musk just added fuel to the fire by claiming to be developing a new email service called Xmail.

No, Gmail Isn’t Closing Down On August 1

Despite the viral message about Google shutting down the Gmail email service this summer, that’s not going to happen. As I reported on February 23, the message was nothing more than a realistic-looking fake. It was posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) with the headline that Google is sunsetting Gmail, which was enough to fool lots of people, it has to be said.

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Xmail Is Coming, Elon Musk Says

Now another message has been posted to X, this time from the owner and richest person on the planet, Elon Musk, which has also got people talking. In fact, the message was a reply to a question tweeted by X security engineer Nate McGrady that asked when the company would be developing Xmail. Musk was quick to respond with two words: It’s coming.

When Is Xmail Coming?

Of course, in true Musk fashion, those two words say both a lot and nothing at all simultaneously. His response would appear to be a case of throwing an idea out there and seeing what the response from the masses is. I have reached out to X in order to see if it can provide any further information.

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The Security Risks Of Musk’s Xmail Announcement

Given the fact that the hype around the viral Gmail closure message is still swirling around, I would advise caution about responding to any messages on any platform that relate to your Gmail account or further information about closures. The same advice goes for messages concerning Musk’s Xmail. It’s likely cybercriminals will seize the opportunity to exploit confusion and distribute phishing messages with malicious intent.

Xmail Already Exists

You may have spotted that I’ve referred to the supposed email service in development as Musk’s Xmail throughout. There’s a reason for this and it represents one of the biggest hurdles Musk faces: a number of email services already exist by the name of Xmail. A quick search on Google reveals at least three using the Xmail name. It could well be that if Musk is planning such a new service he has already taken this into account, and I imagine he has the funds to be able to purchase the right to use the name. Personally, I doubt that we will be seeing an email service from Musk any time soon. Even if the Musk Xmail service does emerge, the notion of taking on Google’s Gmail with any real impact, given Gmail has around 2 billion accounts currently, is a stretch, to say the least.

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