Why Twitter is in trouble for installing the X logo at San Francisco office

Elon Musk’s Twitter rebranding has become the talk of the town. The micro-blogging site owner earlier this week replaced the iconic bird with the letter “X.” Now, the city of San Francisco has opened a complaint and launched an investigation into a giant “X” sign that was installed on Friday on top of the downtown building formerly known as Twitter headquarters. But why? Let’s take a closer look. Also read: The X factor: Will Elon Musk’s rebranding of Twitter hurt the social media giant? Investigation on City officials say replacing letters or symbols on buildings or erecting a sign on top of one, requires a permit for design and safety reasons. The X appeared after San Francisco police stopped workers on Monday from removing the brand’s iconic bird and logo from the side of the building, saying they hadn’t taped off the sidewalk to keep pedestrians safe if anything fell. [caption id=“attachment_12933102” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Workers install lighting on an “X” sign atop the downtown San Francisco building that housed what was formally known as Twitter, now rebranded X by owner Elon Musk. AP[/caption] Any replacement letters or symbols would require a permit to ensure “consistency with the historic nature of the building” and to make sure additions are safely attached to the sign, Patrick Hannan, spokesperson for the Department of Building Inspection said earlier this week. Erecting a sign on top of a building also requires a permit, Hannan said Friday. “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. Also read: Why Elon Musk’s ‘X’ is banned in Indonesia More trouble for X Indonesia has temporarily banned X.com due to its regulations outlawing gambling and online pornography. According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics, the site was blocked because the domain had previously been used by sites that disregarded the nation’s strict rules prohibiting “negative” content, such as gambling and pornography. EnGadget quoted Usman Kansong, the director general of information and public communication at the ministry, as claiming that X had been contacted by the government to provide further information about the site’s purpose. “Earlier today, we spoke with representatives from Twitter and they will send a letter to us to say that X.com will be used by Twitter,” Kansong said on Tuesday. Due to the change, the platform, which purportedly has 24 million members among Indonesia’s 270 million people, is currently inaccessible to Indonesians. Moreover, the generic nature of the letter X may also make it difficult for the company to register new trademarks and protect them. [caption id=“attachment_12932692” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Twitter’s new logo is seen projected on the corporate headquarters building in downtown San Francisco. Reuters[/caption] This is because rival companies like Microsoft and Meta have a tonne of trademarks on X that could obstruct Musk’s aspirations for Twitter’s future. Also read: Twitter rebrands to ‘X’: Tracing Elon Musk’s obsession with the letter The “X” factor 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. The X started appearing at the top of the desktop version of Twitter on Monday. The Tesla CEO has described the micro-blogging platform’s rebranding, which received a mixed reception from users, as the first step towards changing it into an “everything app” that offers services other than social networking, like payments and banking, like China’s WeChat. Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, has long been fascinated with the letter X and had already renamed Twitter’s corporate name to X Corp. after he bought it in October. One of his children is called “X.” The child’s actual name is a collection of letters and symbols. Additionally, Musk has often used the letter X throughout his organisations. In 1999, he co-founded x.com, an online bank that subsequently became PayPal. In 2017, he obtained the name from PayPal once more and claimed it to have “sentimental value.” However, experts have criticised the move. Bloomberg quoted experts as saying that the value of the social media firm was slashed by Musk’s rebranding of Twitter from somewhere between $4 billion to $20 billion. According to Steve Susi, director of brand communication at Siegel and Gale, “It took 15-plus years to earn that much equity worldwide, so losing Twitter as a brand name is a significant financial hit.” With inputs from The Associated Press