Services Nitter and XCancel, which provide an alternative interface for viewing messages from the social network X (Twitter) without registering an account, have resumed their work. The repository of the Nitter project, which developed a free (GPLv3) frontend for accessing X.com without imposing JavaScript, analytics, trackers, and third-party services, has been returned from archive mode. The author of Nitter has so far limited himself to a statement that the project has been returned to operation after consultation with lawyers. A similar announcement was published by the creators of XCancel. Additional details are planned to be revealed later.
The Nitter and XCancel services were stopped two weeks ago after receiving a notice from X Corp demanding that they cease their illegal activities (cease and desist) under the threat of legal action. The notice alleged that the services violated U.S. state and federal laws, including the Texas Computer Harmful Computer Access Act (§ 143.001 and § 33.02) and Lanham Trademark Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1114, 1125). The developers of Nitter and XCancel were charged with illegally accessing the X.com API and associated data, and obtaining access to X accounts and session tokens in violation of the rules of service.