RIP Nitter, Fvck Twitter
Ever since Elon Musk got a hold of Twitter, it has become even more of a flaming, downward-spiraling and unsalvageable mess. Nitter was one of the few sane ways to view content on the platform in a private manner; now the project is all but dead, with the creator Zedeus stating, "I don't see any path forward for Nitter." 1
I used to host a Nitter instance, however changes to Twitter made it more difficult for an instance to access content. There were some experimental changes involving generating guest accounts, but I was never able to get it working.
For me, this is just all the more reason to avoid Twitter completely. The rampant bigotry being promoted, complete mishandling of the platform and active fighting against user freedom are inexcusable. I see continued usage of it as complacency if not outright endorsement. With Nitter gone and no feasible way to maintain an instance, I believe the correct way to move forward is to refuse to interact with the platform. Export your data and then permanently delete your account.
If someone sends you something from Twitter, tell them that you do not interact with the platform and encourage them to leave as well.
Blocking Twitter
In Ublock Origin, you can add the following in the "My Filters" section to prevent your browser from opening Twitter.
||twitter.com^$all
||twimg.com^$all
||twttr.net^$all
||twttr.com^$all
||abs.twimg.com^$all
||img.twitter.com^$all
||t.co^$all
||pbs.twimg.com^$all
||x.com^$all
If you wish to block Twitter in your hosts file, you can add this list 2:
0.0.0.0 api.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 cdn.cms-twdigitalassets.com
0.0.0.0 developers.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 fonts.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 help.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 pbs.twimg.com
0.0.0.0 platform.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 syndication.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 twitter.com
0.0.0.0 www.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 twitter.co.uk
0.0.0.0 www.twitter.co.uk
0.0.0.0 twitter.com.au
0.0.0.0 www.twitter.com.au
0.0.0.0 twitter.co
0.0.0.0 www.twitter.co
0.0.0.0 api-stream.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 ton.twimg.com
0.0.0.0 api-26-0-0.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 api-20-0-0.twitter.com
0.0.0.0 video.twimg.com
0.0.0.0 na.glbtls.t.co
0.0.0.0 na.albtls.t.co
0.0.0.0 probe.twitter.com
If you use Discord, I made these filters that block Twitter content from appearing. It's not good but it works okay for me. There is probably a better way to do it so feel free to mess around and find better ways to control what you see and interact with online.
discord.com##:xpath(.//div[contains(@id,"message-content")][.//a[contains(@href,"x.com")]])
discord.com##:xpath(.//div[contains(@id,"message-accessories")][.//a[contains(@href,"x.com")]])
discord.com##:xpath(.//div[contains(@class,"repliedTextPreview")][.//a[contains(@title,"x.com")]])
discord.com##:xpath(.//div[contains(@id,"message-content")][.//a[contains(@href,"twitter.com")]])
discord.com##:xpath(.//div[contains(@id,"message-accessories")][.//a[contains(@href,"twitter.com")]])
discord.com##:xpath(.//div[contains(@class,"repliedTextPreview")][.//a[contains(@title,"twitter.com")]])
Don't interact with Twitter. If you continue to use it, you demonstrate that you are okay with Elon Musk's behaviour and that you value your addiction to trivial bullshit on a website over being an ethical person.
While fediverse platforms don't serve as a 1:1 replacement to Twitter, I urge you to consider migrating to it for microblogging. In his video on Mastodon, Wolfgang covers the differences between it and Twitter and why the differences are arguably good. 3
Thanks to Zedeus for making Nitter and keeping it alive for this long. It's sad to see this project fizzle out, but hopefully this encourages more people to seek better alternatives that aren't run by unhinged fascist morons.