Twitter was rebranded to X recently in an attempt by new owner Elon Musk to transform the social media platform into an all-in-one app. However, the rebranding has been criticized as rushed and disjointed.
Musk"s decision to rebrand Twitter as X has been met with widespread criticism, with many users expressing frustration at the generic-looking X logo and the retention of the words "Twitter" and "tweet." This mix of old and new branding has prompted backlash from users longing for the pre-Musk days of Twitter.
In a move that has delighted many Twitter users, a software developer, Cygaar, has created a Chrome extension that replaces Elon Musk"s X branding with the classic Twitter bird logo. The extension, found on GitHub, quickly gained popularity among users looking to restore part of Twitter"s old look.
I"m not a huge fan of the new X logo so I wrote a chrome extension that reverts the X back to the bird logo.
— cygaar (@0xCygaar) July 25, 2023
You can see in the demo that the bird is restored in both the app as well as the tab icon.
Long live the bird. pic.twitter.com/dmkNygEhNO
On the other hand, the rebranding could face some legal challenges. For example, the X logo for the Xbox console was first spotted in a trademark listing in 2020. The rebranding has raised concerns about potential trademark conflicts with Microsoft"s Xbox brand.
Also, Meta trademarked a blue and white "X" logo in 2019, which the company notes is for social networking.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk changed the platform"s official handle from @Twitter to @X. Gene X Hwang, the original owner of the @x account, claims that Musk took over the account without paying.
As the debate around Twitter"s rebranding continues, whether Musk will consider user feedback and reconsider his approach remains to be seen.
For now, nostalgic Twitter users can install Cygaar"s extension to regain a small piece of the old Twitter. But it remains unclear how long even these minor acts of resistance will be possible under Musk"s ownership.