Amid the social media company's rebranding to "X" at its San Francisco headquarters, the police intervened while a crew was in the process of removing the Twitter sign.
Interestingly, they decided to leave "er" and the platform's iconic retired bird logo still displayed on the building.
A video surfaced on social media Monday, displaying the crew using a crane and a cherry picker to take down part of the sign. This activity occurred mere hours after the owner, Elon Musk, had announced the company's rebranding to "X," to "embody the imperfections in us all that make us unique."
On Monday afternoon, a passerby tweeted, "Just biked past Twitter HQ on my way home, is it goodbye to the @Twitter sign?" The accompanying video displayed three letters of the sign already removed.
However, NBC Bay Area reported that the crew did not complete the task as local police intervened to verify if they had the required permit to close Market Street and block a lane of traffic.
During the work pause, the station reported that the "er" on one side of the sign and the bird logo were still hanging. It remains uncertain if and when the work will resume, or if the crews require a permit to proceed, as per NBC Bay Area.
As of Tuesday morning, there were no immediate responses from representatives of the San Francisco Police Department and X to inquiries.
According to NBC Bay Area, an onlooker named Livaan Hussan mentioned that the crew requested people to refrain from recording the sign removal process.
"Ever since Elon took over Twitter, it’s just been hostile, and it looks like the down-taking of the Twitter sign is very hostile itself," Hassan said. "It’s sad.”
Teasing alterations to the headquarters' exterior, Musk shared a photo on Twitter early Monday, showing an "X" projected on the building in light.
During a Twitter Spaces audio chat, Musk revealed to an unknown speaker: “We’re cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blowtorches.”
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion the previous year, and in April, he officially changed the company's name from Twitter Inc. to X Corp.
Watching the video below:
