Nitter, an open source project that allowed people to read posts from X without logging in or even opening app X, received cease and desist letters from X demanding it be shut down. The news was shared via a short message posted on the project’s website and follows X’s previous attempts to take Nitter offline through technical means.
The service also works with several other sites, including XCancel, which allow people to view X posts directly.
This isn’t X’s first attempt at shutting down Nitter. In 2024, Nitter’s flagship instance, Nitter.net, temporarily darkened after X implemented new API restrictions. Nitter worked by getting public X posts and then removing ads, tracking cookies, and JavaScript, giving people a clean and tidy way to read posts without an account or the app.
After that crackdown, those who wanted to host a Nitter instance had to connect it to a real X account, according to the project GitHub page. Despite the restrictions, development picked up and Nitter instances were back online.
This time, X is working to shut down Nitter and its instances through legal means. The Nitter 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 name Zedeus, told TechCrunch via email that other instances of Nitter received similar letters.
On the Nitter website, the message currently reads:
On August 24, 2026, X Corp. sent cease and desist letters demanding permanent removal of the Nitter instances and the project repository.
nitter.net is offline and development has stopped for the moment. I am seeking legal advice and will not comment further on the details for now.
Thank you to everyone who has used, hosted, packaged, donated and contributed to Nitter over the past seven years.
X’s letter, which TechCrunch has seen, accuses Nitter of “unlawful use and circumvention of X’s application programming interface (API) and associated data,” through its service, saying that
Attorneys for The letter gave Nitter until 5 pm EST on August 25 to close.
X is not the only one keeping an eye on the alleged scrapers. goal has taken numerous scrapers to court, and most of the largest social networks today restrict the use of third-party readers, forcing users to log in and access the site’s content through the official app, where they can be tracked and shown personalized ads.
It’s an unfortunate development for lurkers, given that Nitter and its instances offered a convenient way to keep up with certain people’s posts on X without an account. Now those people will have to give up that access or, as X probably expects, create an account and log in.
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