Nitter archived and XCancel shut after X's August letter
Nitter and XCancel, two privacy-friendly tools that let you view posts on X without logging in, have both been forced offline.
After receiving a cease-and-desist letter from X in August 2026 over alleged data scraping, Nitter initially tried to keep going, but by mid-September, Nitter's GitHub page was archived on Friday, Sept. 11 and is now read-only, while XCancel shut its service down and suspended this service again until further notice.
X blocks privacy alternatives since 2024
X has been tightening control over who can access its content since 2024, mainly to protect its ad revenue.
Blocking privacy-friendly alternatives like Nitter and XCancel is part of that plan, similar to what happened with other third-party apps like Twitterrific and Tweetbot.
Even though many users liked having more private ways to browse, X seems set on keeping everything behind its own walls.