X has launched a legal assault on Nitter, the open-source project that lets users read X posts without logging into an X account. The letter has now forced Nitter to take its site offline.
The move marks a return to a familiar tactic for X, which previously tried to block the service through API restrictions in 2024. This time, the company is using cease-and-desist letters to demand that Nitter instances and its code repository be shut down. Furthermore, X claims that Nitter violated its terms of service by circumventing X's Application Programming Interface.
Nitter's creator, known as Zedeus, is seeking legal advice and told TechCrunch that Nitter is offline and that development has stopped, presumably until the legal matter is resolved.
According to the letter from X, the project has engaged in "unlawful use and circumvention of X's Application Programming Interface (API) and associated data." The letter also claims Nitter has violated multiple laws, including the Texas Harmful Access by Computer Act and the Lanham Act.
For those who don't know, Nitter, much like XCancel, had previously operated by fetching public X posts and removing ads, cookies, and JavaScript to offer a cleaner experience. Essentially, Nitter removed all of the content that made X money.
This isn't the first time X has targeted Nitter, or the first time a social media platform has taken aim at a website dedicated to scraping posts from the social media platform for a "refined", or "customized" experience. In 2024, new API restrictions temporarily caused the Nitter.net instance to go dark. The project survived by requiring real X account connections, which has now seemingly caused X to turn to legal methods of prevention.
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Other Nitter instances have also reportedly received similar cease-and-desist letters, raising concerns about the broader impact on open-source alternatives to corporate platforms.
