Operation Bluebird, a Virginia startup, has launched Twitter.now while arguing that Elon Musk’s X Corp abandoned the Twitter name, bird logo and related trademarks after rebranding Twitter as X. The move escalates an ongoing legal dispute, as X has sought to stop the launch but the judge has not yet issued a written ruling on its request for an injunction.

The new service currently has only hundreds of users and resembles the previous Twitter, including replies and retweets, but says it is unaffiliated with X. It also uses a Gemini-based automated fact-checking system, Vera, on every post; Operation Bluebird says this supports a safer public forum, while a trademark lawyer says its legal argument may be viable but is far from certain and expects X to respond strongly.