Elon Musk’s company X is updating its Terms of Service to explicitly state it still claims the “Twitter” trademark. This move follows an announcement from a Virginia-based startup, Operation Bluebird, which recently filed an application to trademark the term “Twitter.”
Operation Bluebird claims that X abandoned the “Twitter” brand by renaming its social networking service “X.” In its petition to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the startup cited a post from X owner Elon Musk in July 2023, which stated the social network would soon bid farewell to the Twitter brand.
X is now challenging that claim with a countersuit of its own. In the legal filing, X asserts that it continues to exclusively own the Twitter and Tweet trademarks and the bluebird logo.
Since filing its petition for cancellation, Operation Bluebird has been collecting potential user sign-ups for its own social network at a website named Twitter.new. The effort is led by two lawyers, including founder Michael Peroff, based in Illinois, and Stephen Coates, previously a trademark lawyer at Twitter. Given their professional backgrounds, their stated plan to launch a new service to rival X appears dubious. It is more likely their goal is to acquire the trademark, which holds significant value on its own.
Nevertheless, X is not taking any chances. Its revised Terms of Service, effective as of January 15, 2026, now states that nothing in the terms gives anyone a right to use the X name or the Twitter name, or any related trademarks, logos, or domain names, without express written consent. Previously, this section of the terms only referenced X, with no mention of Twitter.
The updated terms also include other, more minor updates related to EU laws and generated content. X’s Privacy Policy was also updated with a couple of references to age assurance technology.