Death to the bird: Musk officially rebrands Twitter ‘X’

This bird has flown.

Mere hours after hinting at a logo design change, Elon Musk has gone through with his promise. People refreshed Twitter on Monday to find the iconic blue bird replaced with a black-and-white X as the platform’s new official logo.

No frills or fancy designs for the social media site, just a minimalist X that has rattled many users and left them with questions: Is this a marketing stunt? Will Musk keep the term tweets or replace it?    

Musk first hinted at the change with a series of tweets – x’s? – posted Sunday.

“And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk wrote in a tweet early Sunday, before writing “X.com now points to Interim X logo goes live later today.”

Musk also hinted at changing the platform’s color to black.

On Monday, shortly after he posted a picture showing the X logo projected on the company’s headquarters, the logo took over the website. When asked about the future of “retweets,” Musk replied that the “whole concept should be rethought.” What that means is unclear.

Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino talked about the rebranding in a thread posted Sunday evening, saying X will be the platform that can deliver “everything.”

“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” Yaccarino wrote. “Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

This change is the latest controversial decision Musk has made since he acquired the company in October 2022, along with a drastic reshuffling of the company’s administration and several changes to the platform’s features.