Is Twitter Coming Back? What to Expect from the New 'Bird App'
Is Twitter Coming Back? What to Expect from the New ‘Bird App’
Reporter
August 29, 2026 | 09:12 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Twitter is announcing its return, and this time, it posts itself as a competitor to X.
You could say Twitter is coming back in a way, as the new platform is developed by a group led by Stephen Coates, former legal counsel for the original Twitter before it was being transformed into X under Elon Musk.
Citing an Engadget report on Friday, August 28, Stephen introduced the social media platform through LinkedIn, and it’s now running under the URL Twitter.now.
He stated that this had been planned for a long time and was finally realized thanks to a startup called Operation Bluebird.
When accessing the website, the new Twitter retains the blue color of the original version of the social media platform before Elon Musk acquired it.
A bird logo is also visible, but it looks different than the old logo, with additional plumage.
The Shadow of a Trademark Lawsuit
The platform’s launch comes as a judge is still considering granting a temporary injunction to the app’s developers, filed by Elon Musk and X as part of an ongoing trademark lawsuit.
“We have waited months and months to launch, and we are not going to wait anymore,” Stephen Coates told Ars Technica.
Operation Bluebird has repeatedly maintained that the project is legal because Musk quickly changed Twitter’s name and logo to X after purchasing it in 2022.
With the old Twitter identity and intellectual property abandoned, something like a new Twitter could emerge.
Musk sued the group through a federal judge in Delaware, a state known for prioritizing big business.
The case is still pending, but District Court Judge Colm Connolly seems to be hinting that it will ultimately end in Operation Bluebird’s favor.
He noted in a preliminary ruling last April that he had not “found that X adduced credible evidence of use of ‘tweet’ or the bird logo.”
Stephen is acting as legal counsel for the new entity, the same role he held at the old Twitter.
He recently stated that the judge’s preliminary ruling has given them the green light.
“It’s our opinion that X has abandoned its rights on the Twitter and tweet trademarks,” he said.
‘Not Affiliated with X Corp’
The new site clearly states its complete separation from X, stating in its branding that it is “not affiliated with X Corp.”
Stephen later reinforced this statement in a LinkedIn post, stating that “the public square is open again, and definitely not affiliated with X in any way. Whatsoever.”
The company also appears to be distancing itself from all modern social media applications.
“Social media became extraordinarily powerful, but somewhere along the way the people using it lost control,” its mission statement reads.
What to Expect
The new Twitter will include several new features, including an AI tool called Vera, which stands for veracity engine for real-time analysis.
This tool automatically fact-checks all posts so people know if they’re being outraged by something completely fabricated. However, the Vera model is still in its early stages and still needs ironing out.
The independent approach to Twitter also means paid access. Users will need to pay at least US$20 (around Rp355,000) to access the platform and get started as a “founder.”
That fee alone is already half the cost of a one-month X Premium+ subscription.
Twitter recently claimed that the fee users pay helps “keep bots out and stay independent” as a “paid door proves there’s a real person behind the account.”
However, the company also said it would open up access to more people in the future.
Read: X to Swap ‘Misaligned’ Monetization to Original Content Rewards
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