A brightly flashing “X” sign was removed Monday from the San Francisco headquarters of the company formerly known as Twitter, just days after it was installed.
The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection said Monday it received 24 complaints from neighbors about the unpermitted structure over the weekend, including concerns about its structural safety and illumination.
The city of San Francisco had opened a violation complaint and launched an investigation into the giant “X” sign that was installed late Friday on top of the downtown building, as Musk continues his rebrand of the social media platform.
Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a message for comment Monday.
The X appeared after San Francisco police previously stopped workers last week from removing the brand’s blue bird logo from the side of the building, saying they hadn’t taped off the sidewalk to keep pedestrians safe if anything fell.
Additionally, any replacement letters or symbols would require a permit to ensure “consistency with the historic nature of the building” and to make sure they are safely attached to the sign, Patrick Hannan, spokesperson for the city’s Department of Building Inspection said at the time. Hannan later confirmed that erecting a sign on top of a building also requires a permit.
“Planning review and approval is also necessary for the installation of this sign. The city is opening a complaint and initiating an investigation,” he said in an email to the Associated Press.
He also confirmed to KQED that fees would be assessed for the violation investigation, and for the installation and removal. “The property owner will be assessed fees for the unpermitted installation of the illuminated structure,” said Hannan on Monday.
Earlier in July, Musk unveiled a new “X” logo to replace Twitter’s famous blue bird as he remakes the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year.
Despite the recent pushback from local authorities, Musk said his company won’t be leaving San Francisco anytime soon, writing this weekend on Twitter — er, X — that it was here to stay, even though “the city is in a doom spiral with one company after another left or leaving.”
The incident comes on the heels of Musk’s other recent headline-grabbing fight, this one with a nonprofit group.
The platform has now threatened to sue a group of independent researchers whose work documented an increase in hate speech on the site since it was purchased last year by Musk.
An “X” attorney wrote to the Center for Countering Digital Hate on July 20 threatening legal action over the nonprofit’s research into hate speech and content moderation. The letter alleged that CCDH’s research publications seem intended “to harm Twitter’s business by driving advertisers away from the platform with incendiary claims.”
The center is a nonprofit with offices in the U.S. and United Kingdom that regularly publishes reports on hate speech, extremism or harmful behavior on social media platforms like X, TikTok or Facebook. That includes several reports critical of Musk’s leadership, detailing an increase in anti-LGBTQ hate speech, as well as climate misinformation since his purchase.
In the letter, attorney Alex Spiro questioned the expertise of the researchers and accused the center of trying to harm X’s reputation. The letter also suggested, without evidence, that the center received funds from some of X’s competitors, even though the center has also published critical reports about TikTok, Facebook and other large platforms.
Imran Ahmed, the center’s founder and CEO, told the Associated Press that his group has never received a similar response from any tech company. He said that typically the targets of the center’s criticism have responded by defending their work or promising to address any problems that have been identified.
“This is an unprecedented escalation by a social media company against independent researchers. Musk has just declared open war,” Ahmed told the Associated Press. “If Musk succeeds in silencing us other researchers will be next in line.”
Despite being a self-professed free speech absolutist, it’s not the first time that Musk has fired back at critics. Last year, he suspended the accounts of several journalists who covered his takeover of Twitter. Another user was permanently banned for using publicly available flight data to track Musk’s private plane; Musk had initially pledged to keep the user on the platform but later changed his mind, citing his personal safety. He also threatened to sue the user.
He initially had promised that he would allow any speech on his platform that wasn’t illegal. “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk wrote in a tweet last year.
This threat of lawsuit prompted additional criticism from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), who said the billionaire was trying to use the threat of legal action to punish a nonprofit group that attempts to hold the powerful social media platform accountable.
“Instead of attacking them, he should be attacking the increasingly disturbing content on Twitter,” Schiff said in a statement.
KQED’s Nik Altenberg and Kelly O’Mara contributed to this reporting.
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