Twitter takes down huge ‘X’ sign on roof after San Francisco probe and neighbour complaints

City allege company put up sign without permit

Workers were seen on Monday dismantling a giant light-up ‘X’ sign on top of the downtown San Francisco headquarters of X, formerly known as Twitter, following an investigation from city officials that the social media company put up the new sign without proper permits.

Earlier this month, Twitter completed its rebranding to X, part of CEO Elon Musk’s larger plan to turn the social networking site into an “everything app” like China’s WeChat.

To commemorate the occasion, the company began taking down its well-known sign with its old blue bird logo, which long stood over the intersection of 10th and Market Street.

That effort quickly ran into issues.

Last Monday, police showed up and stopped the workers removing the bird sign, alleging the company didn’t have proper permits, and hadn’t taped off the sidewalk below the project, putting pedestrians at risk of falling debris, according to The Associated Press.

(REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

Once the new, short-lived X sign went up, people in neighbouring buildings complained that the installation was strobing extremely bright light into their homes and businesses at all hours.

Over the weekend, city building inspectors sought to investigate the "structure on [the] roof without permit", but were refused access to X headquarters on Friday and Saturday, according to city records obtained by The San Francisco Standard.

The company told the inspectors the sign was only temporary, and was installed for an event, according to the records.

The Independent has contacted X for comment.

The kerfuffle over the sign is the latest incident in what’s been a tumultuous period under the new management of Elon Musk.

The company has laid off thousands of people since the tech billionaire took over, including key members of its content moderation and human rights teams.

During the winter, users exploiting oversights on a new paid verification tier impersonated major public companies, causing chaos for their share prices with pranks like an Eli Lilly imposter declaring that insulin was now free.

Twitter has lost nearly half of its advertising revenue since Mr Musk took over, according to Mr Musk, and has laid off about half of X’s formerly 7,500-person staff.