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Version: 1.1.x

Welcome to Cyd

Cyd is an open source app for Windows, Mac, and Linux that makes it easy for you to claw back your data from Big Tech platforms. Right now Cyd supports X, but more platforms (cough Facebook cough) are coming soon.

Cyd helps you create a local, private backup of your data — like all of your tweets, retweets, likes, bookmarks, and direct messages. Once you've done this, Cyd helps you choose what data you want to delete from your online account. You can delete it all, or you can be selective, deleting most of it but keeping what went viral.

Cyd can also help you migrate your data from closed platforms into open ones — for example, you can migrate your tweets from X into Bluesky.

Screenshot of Cyd

Why Delete Your Data from Tech Platforms?​

The tech platforms that we all rely on are controlled by a tiny group of powerful billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. It's increasingly clear that they're not working in the interest of their users. You don't need to give them permanent access to your data. Especially not now, while they're cashing in on the AI boom by selling your data to AI companies to train their models, all without compensating you.

The content that you've been posting to social media for years isn't just enriching billionaires, it's also a privacy nightmare. Most people have an endless trail of OSINT crumbs about them across the internet, waiting to be exploited.

Many of us go out of our way to protect our privacy. We install ad blockers to prevent surveillance capitalists from tracking our every move online. We use encrypted messaging apps like Signal and enable disappearing messages so that we don't have permanent histories of all of our conversations on our phones.

Why should our social media posts, or for that matter our product reviews, ratings, comments, and upvotes, remain on the internet forever?

If you've had an online presence for a long time, it might be a good idea to see what you've posted in the past and delete everything that you don't want out there. This is especially true if you're an activist, a journalist, a parent, or work for a company or non-profit that some people don't like. If you run a business, you might consider providing this service to your employees as a benefit.

Finally, if you're one of the millions of people fleeing the X platform, it's better to delete all of your tweets (and unfollow everyone) but keep your account activated than to delete your account. This way, other people can't take over your username and impersonate you, and you can leave your account with a message telling your followers where to find you.

How Cyd Works​

Cyd is a desktop app for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Right now it lets you control your data on X, but more platforms are coming in the future, including Bluesky, Mastodon, and Facebook. It works like this:

  • Install Cyd and open it on your computer.
  • Login to your X account.
  • Tell Cyd exactly what you want to delete from that account. Sit back and watch as Cyd does exactly what you ask of it. Cyd can delete your tweets, likes, bookmarks, and direct messages, and unfollow everyone.
  • If you want, tell Cyd to migrate your old tweets to Bluesky. Sit back and watch as Cyd does exactly what you ask of it.

We Can't Access Your Accounts or Your Data​

Cyd runs directly on your computer and not on our servers. Cyd is designed so that we don't have access to your accounts, or to any of your data in those accounts.

In the Media​

December 13, 2024 | Lifehacker​

This Free App Archives and Deletes Your Tweets by Justin Pot

Want to delete all of your tweets? Cyd, an application for Windows, macOS, and Linux, automates the process for you and even gives you an offline archive. Even better: This application runs entirely on your computer, meaning you don't need to trust a third party with access to your account in order to use it.

December 11, 2024: Freedom of the Press Foundation​

Clawing back your data on X by Dr. Martin Shelton

Just as journalists are making the jump to Bluesky, it’s become easier than ever to remove old posts on X. Our former board member Micah Lee created a new piece of software called Cyd, which helps you remove your data from X, with plans to extend this functionality to other social media sites like Facebook and Reddit. Instead of using the old developer tools, which have become prohibitively expensive in recent years, Cyd bypasses these limitations by essentially doing what any user would have to do manually in their browser: The software scrolls through the website and clicks the “delete” button, over and over again.

December 3, 2024: WIRED​

He Got Banned From X. Now He Wants to Help You Escape, Too (archive link) by Andy Greenberg

When programmer Micah Lee was kicked off X for a post that offended Elon Musk, he didn’t look back. His new tool for saving and deleting your X posts can give you that same sweet release.

December 3, 2024: ZDNet​

I deleted thousands of tweets from X with this new tool - for free by Jason Perlow

Now you can easily migrate from X with this powerful tool that deletes tweets, likes, and DMs, while backing up your data for a fresh start elsewhere.

Ready to get started? Download Cyd now.