GoKawiil
Tech News
Nitter and XCancel, third-party services that let users view X posts without logging in or using the official app, have gone dark again after a brief return earlier this month. X had sent a cease-and-desist in August accusing Nitter of unlawfully scraping its API, and both services now cite new legal developments as the reason for suspending operations.
Nitter and its downstream service XCancel, which let users read X posts without logging in or seeing ads, have gone offline following a cease-and-desist from X. Nitter's GitHub repository is now archived and read-only, while XCancel posted a notice saying it must suspend operations due to ongoing legal proceedings.
Nitter and XCancel, alternative front-ends for viewing X (formerly Twitter) content, have resumed operating after briefly going offline. The shutdown followed cease-and-desist letters X Corp. sent on 24 August 2026 demanding a permanent takedown of Nitter instances and its code repository.
Nitter, the open-source alternative front-end for Twitter/X, now has more publicly working instances than it did before a series of takedowns hit the project. New volunteer-run instances have come online, alongside guidance for operators on securing session tokens and handling DMCA and other legal complaints.
X has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Nitter, a free tool that let people view public tweets without logging in or agreeing to X's terms. Nitter initially relied on X's API, then switched to scraping public web pages after that API access was cut off; now X is treating even that as an illegal circumvention of its platform.
X has issued legal takedown notices to the open-source Nitter project and its offshoot XCancel, accusing them of data scraping and rules violations. Both services, which let users read X posts without an account, JavaScript or tracking, have gone offline, with Nitter's maintainer citing legal advice and XCancel posting a notice about the cease-and-desist letter. Nitter's GitHub repository is now archived and read-only.
X Corp issued cease-and-desist letters to the operators of XCancel and Nitter, two third-party front-ends that let users view X (formerly Twitter) content without an account or ads. Both projects have gone offline in response, with their maintainers saying they are pausing all operations and seeking legal counsel before commenting further. Nitter had been running for seven years, while XCancel operated for about two.
X Corp has sent cease-and-desist letters demanding the permanent shutdown of Nitter, the open-source tool that let users read tweets without logging into X, and its repository. Nitter's main site, Nitter.net, has gone offline while creator Zedeus seeks legal counsel, and other Nitter-based sites like XCancel reportedly received similar letters. This follows a 2024 attempt by X to disable Nitter through API restrictions.
Twitter/X front-end alternatives Nitter and XCancel have reportedly received cease-and-desist notices, and all publicly available Nitter instances have stopped functioning. The Nitter GitHub repository itself has been archived by its owner, making it read-only and effectively ending active development.