Musk’s ‘X’ logo atop former Twitter headquarters draws city scrutiny

X marks the spot where Elon Musk sent San Francisco’s permitting department atwitter.

San Francisco has reportedly launched an investigation into a large metal X that appeared Friday atop the billionaire’s social media company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, saying the change took place without permission from the city.

Musk announced last week that the platform would “bid adieu” to Twitter and rebrand as X, the latest in a series of major changes to the tech platform — including limiting the number of posts users can view a day and requiring users to pay for the blue check mark formerly indicative of verification.

On Monday, workers were spotted removing the brand’s former bird and logo from the side of the company’s downtown building on Market Street, but the project came to a halt when San Francisco police cautioned that no notice had been given and no safety measures were taken to prevent falling objects from hitting pedestrians.

The sign change isn’t the first time Musk’s company takeover has run into problems with the city. The company has been sued for failure to pay several million dollars in rent for some of its buildings, and was under scrutiny at the end of last year for installing beds in conference rooms without the proper permits.

Later Saturday, Musk posted on X: "Many have offered rich incentives for X (fka Twitter) to move its HQ out of San Francisco. Moreover, the city is in a doom spiral with one company after another left or leaving. Therefore, they expect X will move too. We will not. You only know who your real friends are when the chips are down. San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend."

The company’s old logo has yet to be fully removed from the side of the building.