Nitter, the open-source frontend that let users read Twitter without an account, has shut down after receiving cease and desist letters. The project's maintainer posted the notice on GitHub and archived the repository on 25 August. All public instances now show the same rate-limit error.

The project let users browse Twitter posts, threads and profiles without logging in, without ads, and without hitting the platform's API rate limits. It scraped Twitter's web interface and reformatted the content as a lightweight feed. Public instances ran on donated servers and let anyone paste a Twitter URL to read the thread.

The top comment asks what the main use case for Twitter is now, and whether the platform is still as popular as it used to be. Another commenter argues that platforms should support community projects like this rather than shut them down with terms-of-service claims. A third calls the move another step in the death of the open web, alongside Instagram and Reddit forcing logins and a small number of mega-corp sites dominating online content.

The notice says the maintainer is awaiting legal advice, but gives no detail on who sent the letters or what they claim. The repository is now read-only and the project has no stated plan to return.