August 1st 2023.
Last Friday, Elon Musk’s newly rebranded company X, formerly known as Twitter, erected a giant, glowing X on the roof of the company’s downtown San Francisco headquarters. The move was met with immediate criticism from neighbours, with 24 complaints being filed to the San Francisco building department over the weekend due to the intrusive lights.
Despite the complaints, Mr Musk announced that the newly named firm would remain in the city, citing what he termed the ‘doom spiral’ in the city, with ‘one company after another left or leaving’. He wrote on Twitter, ‘Beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend.’
However, it appears the big X didn’t stay long. A spokesperson from the city Department of Building Inspection said in an email to Reuters on Monday that, ‘this morning, building inspectors observed the structure being dismantled’ and ‘the property owner will be assessed fees for the unpermitted installation of the illuminated structure’. X said the removal was voluntary.
After his purchase of Twitter, Mr Musk has gone about making many changes to the popular social media app. In addition to introducing a paid feature and limiting access, he has rebranded the company, scrapping the blue bird logo and replacing it with an X. Mr Musk’s vision for X is an ‘everything app’, similar to China’s WeChat.
Despite the complaints and the removal of the big X, Mr Musk remains determined to stay in San Francisco. Despite the city’s ‘doom spiral’, Mr Musk has vowed to ‘always be [San Francisco’s] friend’ and ‘conduct [your] entire financial world’ through his ‘everything app’. He has certainly left a lasting impression on the city, for better or for worse.
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