{"id":3491667,"date":"2026-08-25T20:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T20:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/x-sends-cease-and-desist-to-open-source-project-nitter-over-alleged-scraping\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T20:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T20:44:12","slug":"x-sends-cease-and-desist-to-open-source-project-nitter-over-alleged-scraping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/x-sends-cease-and-desist-to-open-source-project-nitter-over-alleged-scraping\/","title":{"rendered":"X sends cease-and-desist to open source project Nitter over alleged scraping"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n

Nitter, an open source project that allowed people to read X posts without logging into or even opening the X app, has received cease-and-desist letters from X demanding that it shut down. The news was shared via a brief message posted to the project\u2019s website, and follows X\u2019s earlier attempts to knock Nitter offline by technical means. <\/p>\n

The service also powers a number of other sites, including XCancel, that allow people to view X posts directly.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t X\u2019s first attempt to shut down Nitter. In 2024, Nitter\u2019s flagship instance, Nitter.net, went dark temporarily after X rolled out new API restrictions. Nitter worked by fetching public X posts and then stripping out the ads, tracking cookies, and JavaScript, giving people a clean, clutter-free way to read posts without an account or the app.<\/p>\n

After that crackdown, those who wanted to host a Nitter instance had to connect it to a real X account, according to the project\u2019s GitHub page. Despite the restrictions, development picked back up and Nitter instances came back online.<\/p>\n

This time, X is working to shut down Nitter and its instances via legal means. Nitter\u2019s website states that the Nitter.net project is offline while its creator seeks legal advice after receiving a cease-and-desist letter. That creator, a developer who goes by the handle Zedeus, told TechCrunch by email that other Nitter instances received similar letters.<\/p>\n

On Nitter\u2019s website, the message currently reads:<\/p>\n

\n

On 24 August 2026 cease and desist letters have been sent by X Corp. demanding a permanent takedown of Nitter instances and the project\u2019s repository.<\/p>\n

nitter.net is offline and development has stopped for the time being. I\u2019m seeking legal advice and won\u2019t be commenting further on the specifics for now.<\/p>\n

Thank you to everyone who used, hosted, packaged, donated and contributed to Nitter over the past seven years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The letter from X, which TechCrunch has viewed, accuses Nitter of an \u201cunlawful use and circumvention of X\u2019s Application Programming Interface (API) and associated data,\u201d through its service, saying that X has evidence that Nitter scraped X data and accessed X accounts and session tokens in violation of X\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for X said the actions are in violation of \u201cvarious state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, the Texas Harmful Access by Computer Act (\u00a7 143.001 and \u00a7 33.02) and the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 1114, 1125).\u201d The letter gave Nitter until 5 p.m. EST on August 25 to shut down.<\/p>\n

X is hardly alone in policing alleged scrapers. Meta has taken numerous scrapers to court, and most larger social networks today restrict the use of third-party readers, forcing users to log in and access the site\u2019s content through the official app, where they can be tracked and shown personalized ads.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an unfortunate development for lurkers, given that Nitter and its instances offered a handy way to keep up with certain people\u2019s posts on X without an account. Now those people will either need to give up that access or, as X likely hopes, create an account and log in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/div>\n
\n

Nitter, an open source project that allowed people to read X posts without logging into or even opening the X app, has received cease-and-desist letters from X demanding that it shut down. The news was shared via a brief message posted to the project\u2019s website, and follows X\u2019s earlier attempts to knock Nitter offline by technical means. <\/p>\n

The service also powers a number of other sites, including XCancel, that allow people to view X posts directly.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t X\u2019s first attempt to shut down Nitter. In 2024, Nitter\u2019s flagship instance, Nitter.net, went dark temporarily after X rolled out new API restrictions. Nitter worked by fetching public X posts and then stripping out the ads, tracking cookies, and JavaScript, giving people a clean, clutter-free way to read posts without an account or the app.<\/p>\n

After that crackdown, those who wanted to host a Nitter instance had to connect it to a real X account, according to the project\u2019s GitHub page. Despite the restrictions, development picked back up and Nitter instances came back online.<\/p>\n

This time, X is working to shut down Nitter and its instances via legal means. Nitter\u2019s website states that the Nitter.net project is offline while its creator seeks legal advice after receiving a cease-and-desist letter. That creator, a developer who goes by the handle Zedeus, told TechCrunch by email that other Nitter instances received similar letters.<\/p>\n

On Nitter\u2019s website, the message currently reads:<\/p>\n

\n

On 24 August 2026 cease and desist letters have been sent by X Corp. demanding a permanent takedown of Nitter instances and the project\u2019s repository.<\/p>\n

nitter.net is offline and development has stopped for the time being. I\u2019m seeking legal advice and won\u2019t be commenting further on the specifics for now.<\/p>\n

Thank you to everyone who used, hosted, packaged, donated and contributed to Nitter over the past seven years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The letter from X, which TechCrunch has viewed, accuses Nitter of an \u201cunlawful use and circumvention of X\u2019s Application Programming Interface (API) and associated data,\u201d through its service, saying that X has evidence that Nitter scraped X data and accessed X accounts and session tokens in violation of X\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for X said the actions are in violation of \u201cvarious state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, the Texas Harmful Access by Computer Act (\u00a7 143.001 and \u00a7 33.02) and the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 1114, 1125).\u201d The letter gave Nitter until 5 p.m. EST on August 25 to shut down.<\/p>\n

X is hardly alone in policing alleged scrapers. Meta has taken numerous scrapers to court, and most larger social networks today restrict the use of third-party readers, forcing users to log in and access the site\u2019s content through the official app, where they can be tracked and shown personalized ads.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an unfortunate development for lurkers, given that Nitter and its instances offered a handy way to keep up with certain people\u2019s posts on X without an account. Now those people will either need to give up that access or, as X likely hopes, create an account and log in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3491668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3491667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491667"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3491667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3491667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3491667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3491667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}