X · X Terms of Service · View original document ↗

Prohibition on Scraping Without Express Written Permission

Medium severity Medium confidence Explicitdocumentlanguage Unique · 0 of 325 platforms
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This analysis describes what X's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology

ConductAtlas Analysis

Why it matters (compliance & governance perspective)

This clause directly restricts researchers, journalists, developers, and businesses from collecting public data from X without a formal agreement, which has significant implications for academic research, journalism, and competitive intelligence.

Interpretive note: The enforceability of anti-scraping clauses against publicly available data is contested in US courts following Van Buren v. United States and hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn; outcomes depend on jurisdiction and whether data is genuinely publicly accessible.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

The terms authorize X to suspend or terminate accounts not only for policy violations but also for prolonged inactivity, risk of legal exposure, or commercial inviability, without specifying defined thresholds for these categories. The content license granted to X is described as broad and royalty-free, covering distribution, reproduction, modification, and sublicensing of user-posted content to third parties worldwide. You can review your account activity settings and data download options via X's Settings menu at x.com/settings to export your content before any potential account action.

How other platforms handle this

ZipRecruiter Medium

"crawling" or "scraping", whether by automated, manual, or other non-automated means, or otherwise using any automated means (including, without limitation, "bots," "scrapers," and "spiders"), to view, access or collect information or content from the Services, or using any part of the Services or c...

Runway Medium

You may not use automated tools to scrape, crawl, or extract data or content from Runway's platform, or attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise derive the source code or underlying models of Runway's tools and services.

Mistral AI Medium

Customer will not, and will not permit any other person (including any End User) to: ... (d) attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to discover the source code or underlying components (e.g., algorithms, weights, or systems) of the Mistral AI Products, including using the Outpu...

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▸ View Original Clause Language DOCUMENT RECORD
"
You may not access the Services in any way other than through the currently available, published interfaces that we provide. For example, this means that you cannot scrape the Services without X's express written permission, try to work around any technical limitations we impose, or otherwise attempt to disrupt the operation of the Services.

— Excerpt from X's X Terms of Service

Applicable regulations

CFAA
United States Federal
DMCA
United States Federal
DSA
European Union

Provision details

Document information
Document
X Terms of Service
Entity
X
Document last updated
May 5, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
May 7, 2026
Last verified
May 12, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-007107
Document ID
CA-D-00029
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
Content hash (SHA-256)
157cf8382f333ca75bb590d99d0b0e5078079fbbe34320af1b6c3ce027f13d45
Analysis generated
May 7, 2026 22:56 UTC
Methodology
Evidence
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Hash verified
Citation Record
Entity: X
Document: X Terms of Service
Record ID: CA-P-007107
Captured: 2026-05-07 22:56:42 UTC
SHA-256: 157cf8382f333ca7…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/x/x-terms-of-service/prohibition-on-scraping-without-express-written-permission/
Accessed: May 13, 2026
Permanent archival reference. Stable identifier suitable for legal filings, compliance documentation, and research citation.
Classification
Severity
Medium
Categories

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does X's Prohibition on Scraping Without Express Written Permission clause do?

This clause directly restricts researchers, journalists, developers, and businesses from collecting public data from X without a formal agreement, which has significant implications for academic research, journalism, and competitive intelligence.

Is ConductAtlas affiliated with X?

No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by X.