Why Twitter changed its logo to the dogecoin dog

Twitter’s iconic blue bird logo has been replaced with Doge – the dog used as an internet meme and as the symbol of a popular cryptocurrency – in what appears to be “a late April fool’s day gag” from owner Elon Musk.

Twitter users noted on Monday that the blue bird logo usually found on Twitter’s homepage and loading screen has now been replaced with an image of the Shiba Inu dog associated with dogecoin, a meme-based cryptocurrency.

Although Musk has not explained the change, “some users speculated it was meant to be an April fool’s day gag that the company was unable to bring in on time on 1 April”, reported The Guardian. And in “typical Musk fashion”, the billionaire – who bought the online social media platform for $43bn last year – tweeted a meme noting the change.

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That was soon followed by another tweet, which revealed the logo change as an apparent call-back to when a Twitter user suggested Musk buy the company and change the logo. “As promised”, tweeted Musk, who also included a screenshot of the original interaction in March 2022.

While most Twitter users appear to agree that the change is “a strange, weird, unfunny thing to do”, said Mashable, it could now be “par for the course with Musk’s version of Twitter”.

Far from a joke, however, is the lawsuit recently filed against Musk in New York, “accusing him of engaging in racketeering by promoting Dogecoin”, reported Variety.

According to Reuters, Musk’s legal team filed a motion on 31 March to have the lawsuit dismissed. The plaintiffs in the case, dogecoin investors, are suing Musk for $258bn in damages after they accused him of “deliberately driving up Dogecoin’s price more than 36,000% over two years and then letting it crash”, said the news site.

They said this generated “billions of dollars of profit at other Dogecoin investors’ expense, even as Musk knew the currency lacked intrinsic value”.

Among other complaints, investors pointed to his hosting stint on US comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he portrayed a fake financial expert who called dogecoin a “hustle”.

But according to the filing by Musk’s lawyers, the plaintiffs in the case have not shown how Musk’s frequent references to dogecoin – which saw him nicknamed “The Dogefather” by some netizens, according to NPR – defrauded anyone nor have they explained what risks Musk is alleged to have hidden from investors.

The price of dogecoin “spiked by about 30%” on Monday after the logo change was made, said NPR.