It has been revealed that “Nitter”, which allows users to view RSS posts from X (formerly Twitter) without an account, has been blocked by X. Many Nitter servers have already been shut down.
GitHub – zedeus/nitter: Alternative front-end for Twitter
Nitter is a service that allows you to view content published by X without noise as “recommended” and subscribe to published content via RSS. After X imposed restrictions on viewing posts without logging in, it also attracted attention as a “service that lets you view X’s posts without logging in.” The following article summarizes the functions of Nitter.
“Nitter” turns Twitter into a super lightweight ad-free version and can also convert timelines to RSS – GIGAZINE
There was a situation on Nitter around August 15, 2023 that made posts impossible to display due to a change in the X spec.
On August 18, 2023, a countermeasure was proposed that would allow posts to be retrieved using a proxy to obtain a guest account, and X’s posts would be visible again. According to Nitter developer Zedeus, a “guest account” is defined as an “anonymous account that only functions for a month and was created when an older version of the iOS or Android X app was first launched.” Nitter continued to be able to view X’s posts even after August 2023 by incorporating a measure that “gets a new guest account every time the guest account expires.”
However, on January 28, 2024 it became clear that it was no longer possible to get a new guest account. Since it is no longer possible to get a new guest account, you will no longer be able to get X’s posts once your current guest account expires. Mr. zedeus said: “The real accounts will be immediately limited and will probably be deleted. There is no longer any chance for Nitter,” and reveals that it is difficult to take further measures.
Additionally, the certificate for Nitter’s official server, “nitter.net”, expired on the same day, and a warning was displayed when attempting to access it via a browser.
At the time of article creation, access itself is possible if the setting is set to ignore certificate expiration.
You can also check the published content of each account. However, given the security risks, it is best not to access “nitter.net”.
The Nitter GitHub repository reports that the certificate for “nitter.net” has expired, but Zedeus comments that “Nitter is dead”.
The source code of Nitter is open to the public and anyone can host it, so in addition to the official Nitter server, there are many Nitter servers created by volunteers on the Internet. However, even on volunteer servers the situation is the same: “If the guest account expires, you will no longer be able to receive X’s posts” and many servers one after another end their service. For example, when you access “nitter.cz”, which was popular among volunteer servers, the message “Nitter is over” appears and you can no longer view the posts.
Frozen rivets
On the following page you can check the life and death status of Nitter servers around the world. You can see that many servers including “nitter.net” and “nitter.cz” have been forced to shut down.
Rivets instance health
The Nitter source code is available at the link below.
GitHub – zedeus/nitter: Alternative front-end for Twitter
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• Discord | “Did you use Nitter? What was it for?” | GIGAZINE
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