Twitter removed half its HQ sign — then the police arrived

By wazup on July 24, 2023 Comments Closed / 100 views

Apparently a misunderstanding

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

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A worker removes letters from the Twitter sign that is posted on the exterior of Twitter headquarters. — a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Twitter, in case you somehow haven’t heard, is rebranding as “X,” ditching one of the world’s most iconic and theoretically valuable brands in exchange for Elon Musk’s personal idea of cool. Today, the theoretically-not-Musk-led company owned by Musk also attempted to remove the Twitter sign at its headquarters at 1355 Market Street in San Francisco.

Before they could finish, the police showed up.

“San Francisco police halted the sign removal shortly after it began,” wrote Justin Sullivan for Getty Images as part of a caption alongside his many excellent photos of the site.

We haven’t confirmed why police pressed pause. Originally, another observer, Wayne Sutton, tweeted that Musk didn’t get a permit for the crane.

However, local police told The San Francisco Standard that it was a misunderstanding:

At approximately 12:39 P.M. officers assigned to Tenderloin Station responded to the area of 10th and Market Street regarding a report of a possible unpermitted street closure.

Through their investigation officers were able to determine that no crime was committed, and this incident was not a police matter.

“Police on the scene said someone with Twitter had a work order to take the sign down but didn’t communicate it with security and the property owner of the building,” the Standard added.

Either way, the crane is gone, and result is that Twitter is now “er” to some passerby.

a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

And, for a while at least, some big letters were on the ground — including the white “W” that Musk claimed was the center of a dispute with the landlord. (I suspect the dispute also might have had to do with the rent Musk wasn’t paying.)

We haven’t seen anything to suggest that Twitter’s demolition guy was “cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blowtorches,” like Musk suggested in a Twitter Spaces conversation yesterday evening while he was playing Diablo IV.

Instead of blowtorches, the demo guy appears to be using an impact driver from Ridgid, one of The Home Depot’s house brands.