Twitter HQ's New Insanely Bright X Sign Spurs Investigation

Elon Musk's bid to rebrand Twitter into X isn't going well, to put it mildly. In the days since the company started painting over the iconic blue bird logo with its new X insignia — including everywhere from the office space to its mobile apps and website — hurdles have repeatedly surfaced. The latest one comes in the form of a district investigation over the installation of a giant strobing X sign allegedly without proper permits.

A complaint filed with the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection notes that it is investigating a case of a "structure on [the] roof without [a] permit." It claims that officials tried to gain access to the Twitter headquarters building twice, but they were reportedly denied each time. One of the comments on the official complaint states that an X representative refused to "provide access but did explain that the structure is a temporary lighted sign for an event."

Notably, the district administration isn't the only entity vexed by Twitter's over-the-top branding shenanigans. Journalist Christopher J. Beale, who lives right across from Twitter's headquarters, shared a short clip of the X sign's blindingly bright light strobing and illuminating the view from his apartment. Some X users have started joking that the strobing effect is sharing a message in Morse code.

Notably, this won't be the first time that a branding makeover at X's head office has attracted trouble. When the company started dismantling the vertical Twitter sign at its headquarters, law enforcement reportedly halted the work mid-way, leaving only the "er" part of the logo intact. It apparently happened because X didn't inform the property owner about its plans to do so.

According to The San Francisco Standard, the city's Department of Building Inspection was separately investigating a complaint about an "unsafe sign," which had to do with the "@" part of the vertical branding board. Inspectors were reportedly concerned that it could fall and injure pedestrians, though both it and the remaining "er" portions of the sign have since been removed. At this time, it's unclear whether Twitter might have to remove its brand-new illuminating sign atop the building.

This issue joins ongoing criticism of the rebrand, as well as speculation about whether the use of "X" could result in legal issues for Twitter. Meta and Microsoft are among the companies that have trademarked the use of the letter X. Neither company has commented about a potential legal tussle, but given the fact that Meta now competes directly with X via its own microblogging platform called Threads, courtroom drama could unfold in the months ahead.