Twitter Forced To Remove New Signage On Headquarters Building

A giant “X” sign that went up on Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters building, a part of the overall rebranding of the company, was removed on Monday following dozens of complaints and warning by city officials, with the latter saying that the company was violating city law by putting the sign up.

Since Tesla CEO and multi-billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media company for $44 billion in October of last year, Twitter has been highly unstable. Problems have plagued the company, with Twitter immediately losing millions of users, Musk firing around 80% of employees, the company losing 50% of ad revenue, and repeated hints by Musk that Twitter could be leaving San Francisco in the future. However, the latest big change for the company has been a brand new rebranding. The iconic blue color scheme and bird are rapidly being replaced with a giant black ‘X’, with the company name even being changed from the familiar ‘Twitter’ to ‘X’.

The name change has been highly controversial. Musk has said that he is changing the name as part of a transition for Twitter to become an “everything app”, but many longtime and famous users have instead left for Twitter rivals rather than stay. Social media analysts are also confused, as the move takes away over a decades worth of branding and replacing now-iconic imagery.

“Usually companies change their names as a last resort or because of something highly controversial,” explained  Anthony Ferry, a San Francisco tech consultant, to the Globe on Tuesday. “You don’t see Coca-Cola changing their name. Or Ford. Or even newer companies like Apple or Facebook. And remember, all of them have had huge controversies too. It just takes away decades of work, name recognition, and over time, public trust and brand loyalty. It usually takes something drastic for a name change. Like how all the years of smoking controversies got Phillip Morris to change their name to Altria in the early 2000’s. Twitter/X is looking for a big change, but the name change is really baffling to people. There are so many better ways to do this, like keeping part of the name or giving a wink to the former name somewhere in the new logo to smooth the transition.”

As part of the rapid change, the social media company began to remove any and all Twitter signage and iconography from their headquarters in San Francisco last week and replacing it with the new “X” logo. By far the most visual part of it was a giant brightly lit “X” sign on top of the headquarters building.

However, that action quickly got the company in trouble with the city. The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection received many complaints about the sign when it first went up over the weekend, especially over it flashing at night. The city soon began an investigation and found that there were many violations there, and that Twitter/X had not even gotten a permit to do it.

A corporate rebranding and failure to get a permit

“Any replacement letters or symbols would require a permit to ensure consistency with the historic nature of the building and to make sure additions are safely attached to the sign,” noted Department spokesman Patrick Hannan on Monday. “Erecting a sign on top of a building also requires a permit, Hannan said Friday. Planning review and approval is also necessary for the installation of this sign. The city is opening a complaint and initiating an investigation.”

On Friday, a city inspector went to the roof of the company’s building to assess the situation and notified them of a permit violation. The next day, the city inspector came out again to visit the roof, but access was denied by the company, adding only to the growing list of issues. Twitter, meanwhile, said that the sign was simply a temporary one put up for an event. However, the city instead doubled down on permit violations and safety concerns, leading to the company to finally take down the sign on Monday.

“This morning, building inspectors observed the structure being dismantled,” said the Department of Building Inspection in a press release. “The property owner will be assessed fees for the unpermitted installation of the illuminated structure.”

San Francisco authorities are desperately trying to force Elon to remove the ‘x’ from the former Twitter HQ. pic.twitter.com/N6sFmwnSrL

— @amuse (@amuse) July 29, 2023

While the sign is now gone, the clash between the city and the company could heat up, especially as the X rebranding completes.

“This was a chance for Twitter/X to get their new name out in a big way, but instead it just made them the butt of jokes and completely ruined the rollout,” added Ferry. “Now they need to go and get all the right permits, and that means probably getting a sign made especially to meet the city’s demands.”

“And this comes at the worst time for both Musk and the city. For Musk, he needs a win for his platform after Twitter has been taking hits non-stop ever since he bought the company. He’s losing money and users fast. X was supposed to be the new dawn, but it’s just not working out. And for the city, getting petty over the signage could help make Musk’s mind up on whether to move the company or not. He recently said that the downturn of San Francisco wasn’t enough for him to move the company. But if the city keeps harassing him and Twitter/X, it could be enough to finally move. San Francisco needs to pick their battles with them. Musk can’t just do what he wants, but the city also needs to understand that they just can’t restrict companies right now, especially with so many leaving the city.”

More on Twitter/X and violations with the city are expected soon.