NEW YORK—X Corp., the company that operates the platform formerly known as Twitter, recently published a revised version of its terms of service that goes into effect on November 15, 2024. The new version includes a provision on “liquidated damages,” which requires users to agree that, if they violate the company’s terms of service for the purpose of “requesting, viewing, or accessing more than 1,000,000 posts” in a 24-hour period, they will be liable for $15,000. The move appears related to a recent court decision dismissing X Corp.’s suit against a non-profit research group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, for scraping publicly available posts from the company’s platform. A federal court dismissed the suit because the only damages X could point to flow from the research group’s speech, which is protected by the First Amendment.

The following can be attributed to Alex Abdo, the Knight Institute’s litigation director:

“​​This is a disturbing move that the company should reverse. The public relies on journalists and researchers to understand whether and how the platforms are shaping public discourse, affecting our elections, and warping our relationships. One effect of X Corp.’s new terms of service will be to stifle that research when we need it most.”

For more information, contact: Adriana Lamirande, [email protected].