Twitter dismantles its “X” sign in San Francisco

The X-shaped structure, the new name of Twitter, installed on the roof of the platform's headquarters, was removed after a complaint from the city of San Francisco, a new twist in the complicated relationship between its boss Elon Musk and the authorities local. The metal sculpture installed on Friday was dismantled on Monday July 31, noted an AFP journalist.

The city's planning department confirmed the removal and said in an email that the owner of the building would have to pay fees for the building permits he should have obtained and for the investigation costs. A representative of X had refused access to the building to an inspector on Friday and Saturday, merely telling him that it was a "temporary neon sign for an event". At night, the structure comes alive with a play of bright lights. Questioned by local television channels, residents of the neighborhood complained of a level of brightness as in broad daylight, to the point of having been dazzled. Contacted by AFP, X did not respond immediately.

A week ago, Elon Musk renamed Twitter "X", a mathematical symbol that he likes and which can be found in particular in SpaceX, one of his companies, and the first name of one of his children, a boy named " X Æ A-XII”, or “X” of its diminutive. The owner of the social network wants to transform it into a platform to do everything, on the model of WeChat in China. "X is the future state of limitless interactivity - centered around audio, video, messaging, payments/banking - creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities," said explained the company's new general manager, Linda Yaccarino.

But the billionaire encountered several obstacles with the city of San Francisco, which already intervened last week when workers removed the letters from the original sign on the edge of the building. "Many people have made us attractive proposals to move the headquarters of X out of San Francisco, especially since the city is engaged in a tragic spiral where the departures of companies follow one another", declared Elon Musk on the network social Saturday. But "we will not leave," he promised. His profile features a photo of the illuminated X on the roof. “San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco, others are abandoning you, but we will always be your friends,” he continued.

Several former Twitter employees have filed lawsuits against the entrepreneur. According to one of these complaints, filed in May, Elon Musk claimed that it would be necessary “to pass over his body” to pay the rent for the company’s headquarters. Also according to this document, his lawyer Alex Spiro said that the owners of the premises could not expect to receive rent when San Francisco is a "shitty city". At the end of 2021, Elon Musk moved the headquarters of his flagship, Tesla, to Texas, a state with flexible taxation and a lower cost of living. He had clashed with California authorities over the mandatory plant shutdown at the start of the pandemic. Last winter, Alex Spiro's team tried to move a fraud trial against his client from San Francisco to Texas, ensuring that an impartial jury could not be constituted in the Democratic city.