Twitter/X Scraping

TWINT (Twitter Intelligence Tool) is an open-source Python tool available on GitHub that scrapes Twitter/X for tweets, user information, and social connections without requiring Twitter API access. It bypasses Twitter's API limitations to collect historical tweets, search by keyword, hashtag, user, or geographic location, and download media.

For OSINT investigators, TWINT provides historical Twitter data collection capabilities that Twitter's official API restricts. Where the standard API limits searches to recent tweets, TWINT's scraping approach can access a user's complete historical tweet archive and search for tweets from years past — enabling comprehensive historical investigation of Twitter activity.

Historical account analysis using TWINT collects all of a target account's historical tweets — thousands of posts over years of activity — into a searchable database. This complete account archive reveals the full history of a subject's public statements, activities, and social connections in a way that manual Twitter browsing cannot achieve.

Keyword search over specific time periods allows investigators to find tweets mentioning specific terms, names, or events during investigation-relevant dates — reconstructing what was publicly said about specific incidents as they occurred.

Geographic tweet collection searches for tweets posted from specific locations or within defined geographic radius — enabling location-based evidence collection of public social media activity.

User relationship mapping collects follower and following lists for analysis of social network connections — identifying the community around specific accounts.

Note: Following Twitter's API policy changes and scraping restrictions, TWINT's functionality has been significantly affected. Many features may not function reliably with current Twitter infrastructure. Verify current tool status before deploying in active investigations.

For currently functional alternatives, consider the Twitter/X v2 API with appropriate access level, or commercial social media intelligence platforms that maintain API partnerships.

Document TWINT collection parameters, search terms, date ranges, and any collected data with export timestamps.