X, Y, Z U L8er.

X Eyes

San Franciscans are already bidding adieu to the strobing "X" sign that sat atop the Twitter headquarters, which came down earlier today after the city launched an investigation into the eyesore.

As the San Francisco Standard reports, the sign was removed from the roof of the Elon Musk-owned company's HQ after complaints from neighbors about its annoying, uber-bright strobing effect.

Not long after the sign was erected, the city launched a probe into whether it was installed legally. When government inspectors came to check it out, they were twice denied access to the roof as part of their probe, according to a complaint from the city's Department of Building Inspection. As one of the city inspectors noted in the official complaint, an employee who blocked access to the roof of the building claimed the strobing monstrosity was a "temporary lighted sign for an event."

Flashing Lights

As the building's neighbors told local news, the strobing sign — which was only up for a whopping three days following the hasty rebrand a few days before that — was a major nuisance.

"It was so bright that it was actually hurting my eyes a little bit," Miao Gong, who lives nearby, told SF's Fox affiliate KTVU. "I think if it had just stayed on, I could've ignored it, but because it kept flashing, it was hard to ignore."

Footage taken after the sign's removal reveals that the only remaining vestige of the erstwhile "X" sign are the two posts on which it was installed.

After the name change last week, eagle-eyed X-watchers noticed that crews were removing the "Twitter" sign from the side of the site's Market Street headquarters — a move that was also done without a permit, and which now seems to leave the building nameless.

More on X: Indonesia Blocks Twitter, Thinking the "X" Was a Porn Thing


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