X (previously Twitter) has been making a lot of moves toward the rebranding of the company as Elon Musk (CEO) tosses out the old Twitter name into the garbage. A move that has had most experts confused due to the recognition/value that came with the old name.
Regardless, the company is pushing into a new direction as simply “X”, and it has been stepping on the accelerator in getting this done. So much so that it started ripping letters off the face of its HQ building before a permit was ever requested from the city (San Francisco). Causing a commotion, forcing the city to investigate the matter.
Then the company decided to construct a giant X on the top of the building. Again, the word going around was that no permit was sought out before doing so. Causing an investigation into the matter. To make it even better, when night fell, the city quickly learned that the giant X logo on the roof lit up. Now only did it light up, but it was overwhelmingly bright, with the legs of the X flashing on and off in a pattern.
Our HQ in San Francisco tonight pic.twitter.com/VQO2NoX9Tz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2023
Some described it as like having a giant searchlight installed on the roof, pointed at the other buildings. Others saw it as a prank of sorts that clearly wasn’t going to stick around.
Well, they weren’t wrong about the latter. The X has already been removed from the roof of the X headquarters building. As seen in the below Tweet/video posted by ABC7 News. This was following over a dozen complaints that were filed.
Ex-X: After only 3 nights, the 'X' sign on top of Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco that pulsated light right into nearby apartments has been taken down. https://t.co/Mg2qXwkqyX pic.twitter.com/nYsVWsUc7c
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) July 31, 2023
Down came the logo as it either was just a pricey prank or the city forced the company to make it happen. Likely, it was the latter of the two options. Something like that requires a lot of thought and permissions before a city would ok it. For many important reasons stretching from building, safety, and construction codes, to FAA, traffic, and other requirements/concerns.
There is no telling if the company plans to put it back up (aka, plans to make a request to be able to do so) or if it will replace it with something less obtrusive (also, granted it gets the permission to do so).
