No. X's Terms of Service, effective 9 October 2026, say that crawling or scraping X in any form, for any purpose, without X's prior written consent is expressly prohibited. The Terms also set liquidated damages of $15,000 per 1,000,000 posts for anyone who requests, views or accesses more than 1,000,000 posts in a 24-hour period in breach of them. The approved way to collect X data is the X API, under X's Developer Agreement and Developer Policy.
If you're researching a market, tracking mentions of your brand or building a tool, it's tempting to point a scraper at X. Before you do, here's exactly what X's own contracts say, what the approved routes are, and the rules that still apply when you use them.
What X's Terms say about scraping
The rule sits in the misuse section of the Terms. You agree not to access or search X by any means, automated or otherwise, other than X's currently available, published interfaces, unless you have a separate agreement with X. The note that follows leaves no wiggle room: crawling or scraping in any form, for any purpose, without prior written consent is prohibited.
The summary at the top of the Terms repeats it in plain words: except as required by applicable law, you can't scrape X without its express written permission, and you can't try to work around technical limits X puts in place.
The liquidated damages clause
This is the clause that matters most. The US version of the Terms, as of October 2026, says that if you break them, or you induce or knowingly facilitate others to, you're jointly and severally liable for liquidated damages when more than 1,000,000 posts are requested, viewed or accessed in any 24-hour period. The European and UK version sets the same figure in euros.
| Posts accessed in 24 hours | Liquidated damages under the US Terms |
|---|---|
| Up to 1,000,000 | This clause doesn't apply, but scraping still breaks the Terms |
| Each 1,000,000 posts beyond the threshold | $15,000 per 1,000,000 posts |
X adds that these amounts aren't a penalty, don't limit its right to claim other damages, and that repeated violations entitle it to an injunction. The phrase about inducing or facilitating matters too: on a plain reading, it can reach people who commission or supply scrapers, not only the person running the script.
The approved routes to X data
| What you want to do | Route X allows | Rule to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Pull posts or account data into your own tool | The X API | Stay within rate limits; no training foundation or frontier models |
| Show posts or a feed on your website | X for Websites embeds | Contact X about API access if your site passes 10 million daily impressions |
| Share a dataset with someone else | The X API, sharing Post IDs and User IDs | No more than 1,500,000 Post IDs to one entity in 30 days without X's written permission |
| Large-scale access | A licence from X | X says it charges licensing fees for large-scale access |
X's Privacy Policy explains the commercial logic: it makes public X content available through APIs and embeds, generally in limited quantities for free, and charges licensing fees for large-scale access. The X API guide covers getting credentials, and the X API pricing breakdown shows what pay-per-use access costs.
The rules that still apply when you use the API
Going through the API doesn't mean anything goes. X's Developer Agreement and Developer Policy add their own limits:
- Rate limits. You can't exceed or circumvent them. If X believes you've tried, your access can be suspended or permanently blocked.
- No AI model training. You can't use the X API or X Content to fine-tune or train a foundation or frontier model.
- No outside ad targeting. You can't use X Content, alone or combined with other data, to target ads to people outside X.
- No surveillance. Without X's written approval, you can't use X data to track users, monitor protests or rallies, or gather intelligence.
- Keep it current. If a post is deleted or changed on X, you must delete or update your copy as soon as reasonably possible, or within 24 hours of a request.
- Limits on sharing. Developers may give each person up to 500 public post or user objects a day by non-automated means, such as a spreadsheet or PDF download.
If you've hit errors while testing, it's worth reading what the rate limit exceeded message means before you change anything.
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Is there any exception for researchers?
One. The Developer Policy notes that researchers with X API access under Article 40 of the EU Digital Services Act follow the procedures and restrictions in that law and the Developer Agreement, rather than some of the policy's distribution rules. That's a formal access route through X, not a licence to scrape.
What this means for small businesses
Most business owners don't need a scraper at all. If you want to watch what people say about your brand, X's own search covers a lot of it. If you need data at volume, the API is the route X permits, and it comes with clear rules. Paying someone else to scrape for you doesn't move the risk away, because the Terms also cover anyone who induces or knowingly facilitates a breach.
My verdict
Don't scrape X. The Terms ban it outright, the damages clause is written to hurt at scale, and the Developer Agreement can shut off your API access too. If you need X data, use the API within its limits, embed posts with X's own tools, or ask X for a licence. It's slower to set up, but it's the only route that won't put your business on the wrong side of a contract you've already agreed to.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to scrape Twitter?
X's Terms of Service prohibit crawling or scraping X in any form without prior written consent, except where applicable law requires otherwise. Breaking that clause can trigger X's liquidated damages and other claims.
How much can X claim for scraping?
As of October 2026, X's US Terms set liquidated damages of $15,000 per 1,000,000 posts when more than 1,000,000 posts are accessed in a 24-hour period in breach of the Terms.
Can I use the X API to train an AI model?
No. X's Developer Agreement says you can't use the X API or X Content to fine-tune or train a foundation or frontier model.
What's the approved way to get X data?
The X API, under X's Developer Agreement and Developer Policy, or embedding posts with X for Websites. X charges licensing fees for large-scale access.
