Twitter X Rebrand

2023

Date: 23 July 2023 · Place: Twitter HQ, San Francisco · Figures: Elon Musk, owner · Linda Yaccarino, briefly CEO · The blue bird, removed · Tags: Platform, Rebrand, Loss 01. The Bird Comes Down Elon Musk renames Twitter to X on 23 July 2023. The blue bird logo, in use since 2012, is replaced by a black X glyph. San Francisco building permits for taking the existing T-W-I-T-T-E-R signage off the headquarters are denied; Musk has workers begin removing the W anyway, which they fail to complete due to a police complaint. Twitter has been declining as a meme propagation engine since the Musk acquisition closed in October 2022. The rebrand accelerates the decline. 02. Verification Inverts The blue check, once a journalistic and political authority marker, becomes paid. Hexagon NFT PFPs, briefly a status object, are removed entirely. The 'algorithm' becomes 'For You' on a chronological feed nobody wants. Memes still circulate on X but the platform stops being where they originate. The originating platform of the 2010s meme era ends, formally, on a Sunday in July. Sources • The Verge, 'Twitter Is Now X' (23 July 2023) • The San Francisco Chronicle, 'SF Police Stop Twitter Sign Removal' (24 July 2023) • The New York Times, 'Musk Renames Twitter to X' (23 July 2023)