Nitter and XCancel, two privacy-friendly services that allowed users to view X posts without an account, have gone offline following escalating legal pressure from X in September 2026.
Nitter’s GitHub repository was archived on Friday, September 11, placing it in read-only status and preventing any further updates or modifications. XCancel followed on Monday, posting a message on its homepage stating: “Unfortunately, due to a new development in the ongoing legal proceedings we are required to suspend this service again until further notice.”
The closures follow a cease-and-desist letter X sent to Nitter last month, accusing the project of “unlawful use and circumvention” of X’s API and associated data. X alleged that Nitter had scraped the social network’s data to access accounts and session tokens in violation of its rules. Despite initially vowing to continue — with Nitter stating on its GitHub page that “following legal advice, the Nitter project will continue” — both services briefly resumed in early September before the latest legal developments forced them offline.
Nitter was an open-source project that fetched public X posts while stripping out ads, tracking cookies, and JavaScript, giving users a clean way to read content without logging in or using X’s app. It also powered other services, including XCancel.
X’s motivation appears tied to monetization. The platform does not want its content accessed in ways that bypass its advertising, which is also why it previously banned third-party apps — ending services like Twitterific and Tweetbot.
This is not the first time Nitter faced shutdown pressure. In 2024, its main instance, Nitter.net, went offline temporarily after X introduced new API restrictions. For users who preferred to browse X without creating an account or contributing to its user metrics, the closures may leave few remaining alternatives.
Source: TechCrunch