Elon Musk's Twitter 'X' Logo Plan Met With Ridicule and Jokes

Elon Musk's proposal to change the Twitter logo from a bird to an "X" was met with ridicule and jokes from the platform's users on Sunday.

Musk, whose purchase of the social media giant last year has been marred by financial troubles, outages and other controversies, suggested he would soon rebrand the platform in a series of tweets posted on Sunday, just after midnight ET. These changes could include a shift away from the traditional bird iconography the platform has used since its launch, he wrote.

"And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds," Musk tweeted.

In a series of follow-up tweets, Musk elaborated on the timeline of the rebrand. The URL x.com now directs to the Twitter homepage, and an "interim" logo is set to be introduced later Sunday, Musk wrote.

He earlier wrote that the logo could be changed as soon as Monday, and would "of course" be in an Art Deco style in follow-up tweets. Musk also floated some other changes to the platform, such as making its default color black. Twitter also announced this week that it would implement limits on how many direct messages unverified users can send.

Newsweek reached out to Musk via his Tesla and SpaceX companies for comment via email, as Musk disbanded Twitter's public relations team last year.

Musk's proposal sparked an avalanche of critiques and jokes early Sunday morning.

Commentator Ed Krassenstein wrote in a lengthy post critiquing the potential change that Musk's rebrand would "single-handedly kill Twitter."

"Anyone who tries to defend Elon Musk over this move is either brainwashed or completely insane," he tweeted. "We've seen Elon fail at this type of branding once with one of his children. Who names a kid X Æ A-12 Musk? Now he's going to do it to Twitter!"

Twitter user Ed Hall tweeted a mocking proposal for the new logo, sharing an image of the current logo dead with an "X" over its eye captioned, "Introducing Twitter X."

Representative Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, tweeted that a rebrand would not change the issues many critics have taken with over his leadership, specifically pointing to his "free speech" pledge that critics say emboldened conspiracy theorists and hate speech.

"I remember when the Cleveland Browns made a big deal about changing uniform colors. They were still mediocre. Twitter is a worse product now not because of the bird logo, but because @elonmusk elevates conspiracy folks like the pizza gate guy. Twitter X doesn't change that fact," the congressman wrote.

Journalist Bridget Carey tweeted, "A week ago I went on national television and said Twitter is becoming garbage. Now he's actually throwing it all away."

Twitter user Joe Katz tweeted, "Renaming Twitter X is the 21st century replacement for 'rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic' we didn't know we needed."

Several of Musk's changes to Twitter have been met with mixed reaction from the community.

Musk introduced "Twitter Blue," a subscription service for the platform that allows users to become verified. The service replaces the old verification system allowing prominent accounts to receive a "blue checkmark" for free. Experts have warned this change will make it easier for misinformation to spread.

Earlier this month, Musk temporarily placed limits on how many tweets unverified users could view per day, but this feature appears to have been since removed.

Others have also criticized his efforts to prioritize "free speech" on the platform, arguing that he has emboldened those who spread hate speech. The Jewish Democratic Council of America warned in April that Twitter's antisemitism "skyrocketed" after his purchase.

Update 07/23/2023, 5:04 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.