A new social media startup has reignited the Twitter brand, setting up a direct challenge to Elon Musk’s X over ownership of one of the internet’s most recognizable names.

The platform, branded Twitter.now, is operated by Virginia-based Operation Bluebird, whose founding team includes Stephen Coates, a former trademark counsel at Twitter. The service is currently in testing while a legal dispute with X over the “Twitter” and “Tweet” trademarks remains unresolved.

X has filed suit against Operation Bluebird, seeking to block the launch of a platform under the Twitter name. The startup counters that X relinquished rights to the marks when the company was rebranded, a claim X disputes.

Unlike a simple revival of the old Twitter, the new network is being pitched around greater user control of feeds, powered by an AI system called VERA. The tool is designed to evaluate claims in posts, provide contextual sources, and assign trust scores. Future versions are expected to let users set thresholds for what content appears in their timelines.

At present, however, Twitter.now is offline. Visitors to the site are greeted with a notice acknowledging the outage: “We’re down. We’re on it. Already learning things the hard way. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Love you guys 💙.”

The launch marks both a legal confrontation and a brand revival, with implications for trademark law, platform competition, and the future of online discourse.