Nitter Offline After Seven Years: Shut Down by Cease-and-Desist Letters
X Corp has sent cease-and-desist letters demanding a permanent takedown of Nitter, the open-source project that allowed users to read X posts without an account. Nitter.net and XCancel are both currently offline, and the developer is seeking legal advice.
The Situation
- August 26, 2026: X Corp sends cease-and-desist letters to Nitter, demanding a permanent shutdown.
- Nitter Response: The developer, known as Zedeus, thanks users for their support and states that other Nitter instances have also received similar letters.
- Legal Basis: X claims Nitter scraped its data and breached its API and associated rules, citing the Texas Harmful Access by Computer Act and the Lanham Act.
Nitter’s Functionality
Nitter described itself as an alternative Twitter front end focused on privacy and performance. It fetched public posts, removed ads, tracking cookies, and JavaScript, providing users with a clean reading experience without requiring an account.
Previous Incidents
Nitter experienced a shutdown in February 2024 when X closed several methods the project used to access posts. However, development resumed, and instances came back online after the service relaunched in 2025. This time, legal action is being taken instead of technical restrictions.
Current Status
Some Nitter instances remain operational, demonstrating the open-source nature of the project.