Twitter name returns as startup launches social network with blue bird logo

Twitter is returning, at least in name, after Elon Musk changed the platform's name to X in 2023. Operation Bluebird opened pre-registration for its planned network, Twitter.now, at the end of August. A US judge then ordered the startup to change the site's name, which is now Tweet.app.

The court blocked the startup from using “Twitter,” finding that the name could confuse consumers and violate existing registered trademarks. But it also ruled that xAI, the company led by Musk that acquired the original Twitter, had abandoned exclusive rights to the word “tweet” and the famous blue-bird logo.

Operation Bluebird accepted the ruling and updated its online references. In its explanatory notes, the startup said the decision recognized the legitimacy of using the platform's former visual and linguistic elements without infringing trademark rights.

“

Three years after the rebranding, and after a serious corporate attempt to replace it, people still keep saying tweet. We adopted the name that no one ever stopped using.

“Three years after the rebranding, and after a serious corporate attempt to replace it, people still keep saying tweet. We adopted the name that no one ever stopped using,” the founders said on Tweet.app.

The site is accepting registrations for a waiting list that has passed 172,000 requests, according to figures collected by TechCrunch. The founders describe their project as a place for “freedom of speech and expression,” with safety as the default and rules applying equally to everyone. They say users, rather than an algorithm, should set the rules.

“

Freedom of speech and expression. We want a safe space by default, where the rules apply to everyone and where you, not an algorithm, call the shots.