X Corp. targets Nitter project and loses New York transparency lawsuit

X Corp. has issued cease-and-desist letters to the open-source project Nitter, demanding the permanent shutdown of its instances and its code repository. Nitter allowed users to view public posts on X without logging in, using an interface free of advertisements, tracking cookies, and JavaScript. The developer, known as Zedeus, has taken the main Nitter.net site offline and suspended development while seeking legal counsel. X alleges that Nitter unlawfully used and circumvented its Application Programming Interface (API) and accessed session tokens, citing violations of the Texas Harmful Access by Computer Act and the Lanham Act.

In a separate legal development, a U.S. District Judge in Manhattan dismissed a lawsuit filed by X Corp. challenging New York’s ‘Stop Hiding Hate Act’. X had argued that the law, which requires social media companies to disclose their content moderation practices regarding hate speech and disinformation, violated the First Amendment. Judge John Cronan rejected this, ruling that the law requires companies to provide ‘purely factual and uncontroversial information’ to help users make informed choices, comparing the requirement to disclosing calorie counts on food packaging.