Nitter, an open source project that allowed people to read X posts without logging into or even opening the X app, has received cease-and-desist letters from X demanding that it shut down. The news was shared via a brief message posted to the project’s website, and follows X’s earlier attempts to knock Nitter offline by technical means.

The service also powers a number of other sites, including XCancel, that allow people to view X posts directly.

This isn’t X’s first attempt to shut down Nitter. In 2024, Nitter’s flagship instance, Nitter.net, went dark temporarily after X rolled out new API restrictions. Nitter worked by fetching public X posts and then stripping out the ads, tracking cookies, and JavaScript, giving people a clean, clutter-free way to read posts without an account or the app.

After that crackdown, those who wanted to host a Nitter instance had to connect it to a real X account, according to the project’s GitHub page. Despite the restrictions, development picked back up and Nitter instances came back online.

This time, X is working to shut down Nitter and its instances via legal means. Nitter’s website states that the Nitter.net project is offline while its creator seeks legal advice after receiving a cease-and-desist letter. That creator, a developer who goes by the handle Zedeus, told TechCrunch by email that other Nitter instances received similar letters.

On Nitter’s website, the message currently reads:

“On 24 August 2026 cease and desist letters have been sent by X Corp. demanding a permanent takedown of Nitter instances and the project’s repository.

nitter.net is offline and development has stopped for the time being. I’m seeking legal advice and won’t be commenting further on the specifics for now.

Thank you to everyone who used, hosted, packaged, donated and contributed to Nitter over the past seven years.”

The letter from X, which TechCrunch has viewed, accuses Nitter of an “unlawful use and circumvention of X’s Application Programming Interface (API) and associated data,” through its service, saying that X has evidence that Nitter scraped X data and accessed X accounts and session tokens in violation of X’s rules.

Lawyers for X said the actions are in violation of “various state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, the Texas Harmful Access by Computer Act (§ 143.001 and § 33.02) and the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1114, 1125).” The letter gave Nitter until 5 p.m. EST on August 25 to shut down.

X is hardly alone in policing alleged scrapers. Meta has taken numerous scrapers to court, and most larger social networks today restrict the use of third-party readers, forcing users to log in and access the site’s content through the official app, where they can be tracked and shown personalized ads.

It’s an unfortunate development for lurkers, given that Nitter and its instances offered a handy way to keep up with certain people’s posts on X without an account. Now those people will either need to give up that access or, as X likely hopes, create an account and log in.

Instagram is making one of the most tedious parts of creating Reels easier. The company announced Tuesday in a Threads post that it’s rolling out “First Draft,” a new editing feature that automatically trims selected video clips and removes pauses, pulling together the best moments into an initial cut. 

Instagram says the process can produce a first pass in under 10 seconds, potentially saving creators significant editing time while making video creation more approachable for people who don’t have much experience with editing software. Instead of manually working through every clip, creators can start with an automatically assembled draft and refine it from there.

First Draft is initially rolling out on iPhone. Users can access it directly from Instagram’s camera while recording or from the Reels gallery after selecting multiple clips.

The feature itself isn’t revolutionary. Similar automated editing tools already exist in products such as Adobe Firefly’s Quick Cuts and CapCut’s Auto Cut. But Instagram’s decision to build the functionality directly into its own app gives creators less reason to move footage into a separate editor.

Instagram has introduced several creator tools this year, such as a “Replace Audio” tool that lets users swap the music on existing feed posts and carousels without deleting and re-uploading them. The company is also working on launching a new AI assistant in its video-editing app Edits.

Additionally, it has been testing “Series,” which lets creators group related Reels together so viewers can watch them in a specific order, potentially turning individual short videos into more structured content.

Notably, First Draft was announced on the same day that Instagram head Adam Mosseri is expected to testify in Meta’s high-profile social media addiction trial. The lawsuit accuses Meta of designing Instagram and Facebook in ways that encouraged children to use the platforms compulsively while failing to address potential harms. Meta has rejected the allegations.

Stability AI, the startup behind AI image generation model Stable Diffusion, has raised $76 million in Series B funding. The new haul brings the company’s fundraising total to $232 million.

The company announced the round Tuesday, saying the new capital comes partly from a number of prominent entertainment industry organizations, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, and Warner Music Group, and gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA). Two investment firms, AMD Ventures and Pacific Alliance Ventures, also took part.

It’s an unusual roster and less a typical venture round than a lineup of the companies Stability now depends on for content licensing and distribution deals.

Stability AI CEO Prem Akkaraju, who joined the company in 2024, called the funding “an affirmation of our vision where generative AI empowers every producer, musician, and storyteller.” Akkaraju joined the company in 2024.

The company says it plans to use the money from its latest funding round to continue building out its “creative production” product suite while also expanding its professional services arm. Currently, Stability offers a variety of AI models that are designed for the purposes of AI music, video, and image generation.

Stability, founded in 2019, has spent the past year signing deals to weave generative AI into entertainment companies’ creative workflows. It struck partnerships with Universal Music and EA last October and with Warner Music last November, each giving those companies a hand in co-developing Stability’s AI tools rather than just licensing the output..

Stability has also had a mostly winning stretch in court. The company largely prevailed in a copyright lawsuit brought by Getty Images in the United Kingdom, which had accused the company of infringing upon IP rights by using the company’s images in the training of its image generation model. A judge ruled largely in Stability’s favor in that case, but a similar lawsuit from Getty in the U.S. is still working its way through the courts.

Stability was also sued in 2023 by the company’s co-founder, Cyrus Hodes, who claimed that he was tricked by the other co-founder, Emad Mostaque, into selling his share in the company.