Musk is in the process of rebranding Twitter to “X.”
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San Francisco got 24 complaints about the giant light-up sign on X’s HQ, CNN reported.
Elon Musk’s social-media company dismantled the sign just three days after putting it up.
The complaints said the sign looked “poorly constructed,” could distract drivers, and disturbed residents.
San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection got 24 complaints about the giant light-up “X” sign Elon Musk placed on the headquarters of the company formerly known as Twitter, the department’s spokesperson told CNN.
Complaints viewed by Insider included concerns that the sign didn’t look stable and that its brightness could disturb people living nearby and potentially be an epilepsy risk.
“That new ‘X’ sign looks really unstable and sketchy,” one complaint reads. “A decent earthquake is going to send that thing down on the street!” Other complainants said the sign looked “poorly constructed” and that the lights looked as though they could fall into the street below.
“Distressing strobing light, risks to photosensitive epileptics, distracting drivers and cyclists,” another person wrote. “Someone will be hurt if this isn’t stopped, I know he is litigious but it’s a safety issue,” they continued, referring to how Musk isn’t scared to enter legal battles.
“Is city government asleep at the wheel in San Francisco that a business, of any kind, is allowed to install a sign so completely offensive and without public input as the new “X” sign?!,” another complaint reads. “Why is our city allowing Musk’s eff you to its neighbors and citizens allowed to operate?! SHUT IT OFF!! … It is creating a massive nighttime nuisance and making it hard to sleep.”
Musk announced in late July that he was rebranding Twitter to X, which appears to be related to his plans to build an “everything app.” The social-media company’s logo has been replaced, “retweets” are being changed to “reposts,” and the URL “x.com” now redirects users to “twitter.com.”
Relics of the company’s former identity are being torn down from its headquarters, too. Musk pulled down the old signage, renamed the conference rooms to words starting with “ex,” and removed bird logo decorations.
A crane was used to remove some of the letters from the old sign on the company’s San Francisco HQ.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The new sign was placed on the building’s roof on Monday. Department of Building Inspection inspectors say that building staff denied them access to the roof multiple times. It was dismantled just three days later after the DBI served it a Notice of Violation for working without a permit and for the building being unsafe. The notice ordered X to stop the work and either obtain a building permit for the sign or dismantle it, which also requires a building permit.
X did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, made outside of regular working hours, about whether it planned to reconstruct the sign. The DBI did not immediately respond to Insider’s request about whether X had applied for a permit since being issue the Notice of Violation.
Some complaints from the public to the DBI had referred to the brightness of the lights and their flashing nature, which one complainant said continued throughout the night.
One person said that the sign showed that X had “ZERO respect for the neighbours,” while another said that the light shone directly into the residential building across the street, “preventing those residents from being able to sleep or enjoy their space.”
“Extremely intense white stroboscopic light,” another complaint reads. “Affecting all my apartment. Causing distress and nausea. Epilepsy warning should come with this intense light show.”