The giant “X” sign on the rooftop of Elon Musk’s social media company headquarters in San Francisco has been removed—just days after it was installed following the company’s rebranding in July.
On July 31, San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection said it received 24 complaints about the sign that weekend, including concerns about its structural safety and the intensity of its lights.
One of the complaints said the “extremely intense white stroboscopic light” from the sign was causing “distress and nausea.”
“This morning, building inspectors observed the structure being dismantled. A building permit is required to remove the structure but, due to safety concerns, the permit can be secured after the structure is taken down,” Patrick Hannan, the department’s spokesperson, told The San Francisco Standard on July 31.
Mr. Hannan added that the property owner will be charged fees for the unpermitted installation of the illuminated structure. The fees will be for building permits for the installation and removal of the structure, and to cover the cost of the Department of Building Inspection and the Planning Department’s investigation, he said.
X said the removal of the “X” sign was voluntary.
The department launched an investigation into the X sign after receiving a complaint about a “structure on roof without permit.” A city inspector subsequently tried to gain access to the rooftop sign, but was denied access on Friday. X representatives informed the inspector that the sign “is a temporary lighted sign for an event.”
The same city building inspector tried again on Saturday, but “upon arrival access was denied again by tenant.”
On Monday, a different city inspector again failed to gain access to the rooftop sign due to rejection from the tenant, according to the complaint. The inspector observed the “X” sign “being dismantled from across the street.”
“[B]y the time I left the entire structure had been removed,” the inspector said, according to the complaint.
A photo illustration of the new Twitter logo in London on July 24, 2023. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
X
Mr. Musk purchased the social media company for $44 billion in October last year. Before the purchase was finalized, he wrote that “buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.”
Last month, after rebranding Twitter and dropping its iconic blue bird logo, Mr. Musk mentioned that the X app will eventually include the ability for its users to conduct their “entire financial world.”
X CEO Linda Yaccarino explained how the app could deliver “everything” on July 23.
“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity—centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking—creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” Ms. Yaccarino wrote on X. “Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”
“There’s absolutely no limit to this transformation. X will be the platform that can deliver, well ... everything,” she added.
Last week, Mr. Musk announced that his social media platform had achieved an important milestone, writing on X that there are now more than 541 million monthly users, a record high in 2023. He added that the figure was tabulated after removing a “vast number of bots.”
On July 31, he took to X to urge more people to come to work in San Francisco. His plea came just two days after writing on X that his social media company headquarters is not leaving the city, despite being “offered rich incentives” to do so.
“It is important for more people to come to work in San Francisco or the rest of the city can’t survive,” he wrote.
In December last year, Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez wrote a letter to Mr. Musk urging him to relocate his social media company headquarters to Miami-Dade County, where the congressman once served as mayor.
By relocating to Florida, Mr. Gimenez wrote, the company would escape San Francisco, which he said has become “openly hostile to diversity of thought and intolerant to those who refuse to conform to the leftist dystopia that has been established there.”
“We value freedom, we value hard work, and the people of Miami-Dade will welcome Twitter to our community with open arms,” the letter says.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Frank Fang
journalist
Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based journalist. He covers U.S., China, and Taiwan news. He holds a master's degree in materials science from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
