Twitter’s distinctive bird icon was removed and replaced with a Shiba Inu in an apparent homage to dogecoin, the parody cryptocurrency that CEO Elon Musk is being sued over.
Musk acknowledged the change on Monday afternoon, tweeting “as promised” alongside a screenshot of a chat from a year ago in which a user suggested he “simply purchase Twitter” and “change the bird logo to a doge.”
According to Reuters, the doge logo emerged on the site two days after Musk sought a judge to dismiss a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit accusing him of operating a pyramid scheme to support dogecoin.
Attorneys for Musk and Tesla referred to the lawsuit filed by dogecoin investors as a “fantastical work of fiction” based on Musk’s “harmless and frequently amusing tweets.”
It was unclear if the logo modification would be permanent. Musk has been observed trolling both his supporters and detractors on Twitter.
The price of dogecoin, which is often volatile, increased by more than 20% in the previous twenty-four hours, to almost nine cents. Monday morning, the price was just below 8 cents.
Dogecoin was established on December 6, 2013 as a prank by two software engineers. The name is a reference to the decade-old meme known as “doge.” Its Shiba Inu mascot imitates this meme, which depicts a dog surrounded by Comic Sans letters written in bad English.
