Operation Bluebird: Twitter is back and controversy is inevitable

The social network Twitter is back in a new form: the US startup Operation Bluebird is there Twitter.now launched a platform that is visually and functionally based closely on the former Twitter.

Musk has given up on the brand

The company assumes that it will be able to use the naming rights and the well-known bird logo, reports Ars Technica. Operation Bluebird argues that when Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 and subsequently renamed it X, Musk abandoned the former brand. The company therefore sees a legal opportunity to claim the trademark rights to the terms “Twitter” and “Tweet” itself. One of the co-founders, Stephen Coates, was already working as general counsel at Twitter before Musk took over and is now taking on this role at Operation Bluebird. Musk’s company X Corporation sued the startup at the end of last year and requested an injunction in federal court in Delaware. This was intended to prevent a new Twitter platform from even launching.

However, at a hearing in April 2026, Judge Colm Connolly suggested that X may have waived certain rights. This apparently affects the terms “Tweet” and the Twitter bird logo, and possibly even the name “Twitter”. However, a written decision from the court is still pending. For Coates and his colleagues, the judge’s comments were enough to start Twitter.now.

Fact check included

At the same time, the new platform expressly distances itself from X. On its website, the company emphasizes that it is not affiliated with X Corp. to be connected. Twitter.now is still in its early phase and so far only has a few hundred users. However, functions such as replies and retweets are clearly reminiscent of the earlier Twitter. A special feature is an integrated automatic fact check. The system called “Vera,” based on Google’s Gemini, is designed to analyze posts in real time and check their veracity. Coates tested the function with obviously false statements, among other things.

The goal is a digital public square that is less harmful and safer, it said. For him, freedom of expression does not mean that every contribution must automatically receive maximum reach. Trademark lawyer Josh Gerben believes Operation Bluebird’s arguments are fundamentally justifiable, but warns against hasty conclusions. With the actual launch of Twitter.now, X Corporation will now be forced to react further. The legal dispute could thus reach a new level of escalation.