The police showed up and halted the sign removal shortly after it began.
Hours after Elon Musk officially rebranded Twitter with its new "X" logo, a worker was seen removing part of the sign outside the company's San Francisco headquarters. However, the rebranding process soon took an unexpected turn when the police intervened.
The videos and pictures show a worker pulling parts of the prominent white sign at 1355 Market Street in San Francisco. The police showed up and halted the sign removal shortly after it began.
It was initially reported that Elon Musk did not get a permit for the equipment on the street. However, local authorities 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," the report said.
"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.
The publication further added that the crane was gone and Twitter is now "er" to some passersby.
Elon Musk rebranded Twitter recently, in a tweet he said, "And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds."
"If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we'll make go live worldwide tomorrow," he said in another tweet.
The iconic blue bird logo was replaced by an X logo. The blue bird logo has been synonymous with Twitter and remained unchanged since 2012. That design was introduced by Twitter's former creative director, Doug Bowman.
Founded in 2006, Twitter takes its name from a play on the sound of birds chattering, and it has used avian branding since its early days, when the company bought a stock symbol of a light blue bird for $15, according to the design website Creative Bloq.
The SpaceX and Tesla chief's fascination with the letter X goes back to the 1990s. In 1999, he launched the X.com domain, an online banking services platform that is a precursor to PayPal. In 2017, Mr Musk repurchased the X.com domain and it was kept as one of his unused assets until his big announcement on Twitter's future on Sunday.