Musk’s latest spat may spur Twitter relocation

Elon Musk’s first big conflict with the city of San Francisco could result in the company fleeing the city.

Elon Musk has a history of sparring with local politicians. Musk moved Tesla to Texas after clashing with Alameda County government officials, who wanted him to shut down his factories in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, he’s attracting the attention of San Francisco’s building inspectors after a complaint involving Twitter’s headquarters.

The biggest signal Musk is thinking of moving came when he spoke live on Twitter Spaces about why he saw Twitter’s position in San Francisco as a major hindrance to his plans of bringing “free speech” back to the service. Twitter’s physical location meant that the San Francisco’s leftleaning politics have crept into the product and its content rules, Musk said on Saturday.

Musk has converted several of Twitter’s extra conference rooms into makeshift bedrooms, complete with side tables and armchairs. have travelled to help Twitter out – are apparently working so hard and for such a long time that they need to sleep at the office. But now San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection is investigating the setup. Converting commercial space into residential space requires things like applications and permits, and Musk, of course, doesn’t appear to have done any of that. He responded to news of the investigation by criticising Mayor London Breed on Twitter, in front of his 120 million followers.

On Wednesday, Musk told employees that “we will not be using other offices in the Bay Area for now” outside of San Francisco, according to Platformer, a sign the company is paring back its broader Bay Area footprint.