Operation Bluebird launches twitter.now amid Twitter trademark dispute
What's the deal? Startup Operation BluebirdDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → this week launched twitter.nowDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a paid social network staking a claim to the Twitter brand that Elon Musk dropped when he renamed his $44 billion purchase 'X.' Its founding team includes former Twitter trademark counsel Stephen Coates.
Why now? The launch coincided with X's lawyers issuing cease-and-desist letters to NitterDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and XCancelDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, tools that let users view X content without an account. Operation Bluebird filed to claim the Twitter trademark last year, arguing Musk had abandoned it.
What's the product? Unlike Nitter, twitter.now is a new platform "not affiliated with X Corp." Users must pay to post and view posts, starting at $20 for early access and $40 for a "Fighter" tier that adds a slingshot badge.
The site uses an AI system called VERA to check claims, provide sources and context, and attach a trust score to posts. Users can set a preferred trust score to filter out low-trust content. "You control your own feed with a simple dial — freedom of speech, not freedom of reach," the FAQ says.
Why pay? Unlike free alternatives such as Bluesky or MastodonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, twitter.now charges a fee "to keep bots out and stay independent." According to its FAQ, "A paid door proves there's a real person behind an account, and member funding keeps us answerable to you instead of advertisers."
What could go wrong? X is contesting the trademark, stating "Twitter never left and continues to be exclusively owned by X Corp." The case is ongoing with no judgment yet, though the company posted, "Twitter is a reclaimed brand." Moderation is another risk — Bluesky has faced criticism on that front, and the original Twitter repeatedly struggled with it.
Coates says the goal is not nostalgia. "When X Corp. retired the Twitter brand, we saw an opportunity to build something new: a public square organized around trust, transparency, and user choice," he said, adding that twitter.now "is not an attempt to recreate the old platform."
The signal: With X shedding the Twitter name and clamping down on lookalike tools, a legal and branding vacuum has opened. Whether a paywalled, trust-scored network can fill it depends as much on the Delaware court as on user demand.
Read more: TechCrunch
Image credit: Operation Bluebird
