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How to See Deleted Tweets on X in 2026: What Still Works

See deleted tweets through Wayback Machine and archive.today copies, the quotes and replies that outlive a post, and an API check, tested on an SEC post.


Published · Updated · 7 min read

Cover image: What survives a deleted post

To see deleted tweets, look up the post's link in the Wayback Machine or archive.today, because X itself keeps nothing public.

This guide is for anyone checking a public post that vanished, from a brand, an agency or your own account. We tested each method on a real deleted post from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We also run Weir, the API in Step 5.

Paste this into your browser, with any post's link after the asterisk:

https://web.archive.org/web/*/twitter.com/SECGov/status/1744829327294837236
  1. Copy the linkThe digits after /status/ are its id.
  2. Check the Wayback MachineOpen the capture list.
  3. Try archive.todayAsk for its newest copy.
  4. Search quotes and repliesquoted_tweet_id: and conversation_id:.
  5. Confirm by APIA 404 means it's gone.

Step 1: See what X shows for a deleted tweet

X shows a notice where the post was, and nothing else.

X's Help Center says that once a post is deleted, its contents, metadata and analytics are "no longer publicly available on X." Plain reposts of it disappear too.

That notice doesn't prove a deletion. X's notices page gives four reasons a post can be unavailable:

  • It was deleted by the person who posted it.
  • The account is protected, and you don't follow it.
  • The account blocked you.
  • The account was deactivated.

So check the account first. If its profile is public and still loads, a missing post was most likely deleted.

Our example is the fake post sent from the SEC's hacked account on 9 January 2024. The SEC's own follow-up post calls it "an unauthorized post," and X no longer serves it.

Step 2: How to see deleted tweets with the Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine at web.archive.org saves copies of public pages, X posts included. It has a copy only if someone saved the page before the deletion. Our free deleted tweet finder builds every link below from the post's link.

  • Open the capture list. Put web.archive.org/web/*/ in front of the post's link.
  • Try both domains. A capture may sit under twitter.com or x.com.
  • Pick a blue dot. The Internet Archive's help page says blue means the capture loaded normally.
  • Choose a time before the deletion. A capture made afterward can't hold the post's words.

We looked up the SEC post on 22 October 2026:

21:11 UTCthe fake post went up, 9 January 2024
21:18 UTCthe first Wayback capture
21:24 UTCa capture that still holds its text

That capture starts "Today the SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs," the words X no longer shows. Our Tweet ID to Date converter gives you the posting time from the id, so you know where to look.

Developers can ask the archive for the capture closest to a time:

curl "https://archive.org/wayback/available?url=twitter.com/SECGov/status/1744829327294837236&timestamp=202401092115"
{
  "archived_snapshots": {
    "closest": { "status": "200", "available": true, "timestamp": "20240109212440" }
  }
}

Without timestamp, you get the most recent capture: here, one from February 2024, made after the deletion. Copies can also vanish, since the archive's help page says owners can ask to be excluded.

archive.today, also at archive.ph, is a separate archive. Its FAQ gives a direct address for the newest copy of any link:

https://archive.ph/newest/https://twitter.com/SECGov/status/1744829327294837236

It may have no copy at all. On 22 October 2026 it showed our script a security check, so we couldn't test it. Open the link in your own browser.

Step 4: See deleted tweets of others through quotes and replies

Deleting a post doesn't delete what other people wrote about it. X's Help Center says quote posts of a deleted post "will not be removed."

Two searches find what's left, as our quote tweets guide explains. Type either one into X's search box and tap Latest:

quoted_tweet_id:1744829327294837236
conversation_id:1744829327294837236

Both still returned live posts for the SEC's fake post on 22 October 2026. The quotes we got were posted at 21:34 and 21:35 UTC, before the deletion.

Read each quote's own words and any screenshot in it. The quoted post itself won't show, because it's gone.

Replies still point at the deleted post. Here's one, trimmed to the fields that prove it:

{
  "createdAt": "2024-01-09T21:25:44.000Z",
  "conversationId": "1744829327294837236",
  "inReplyToId": "1744829327294837236"
}

Screenshots are the last trace, but they're easy to fake. Compare one with an archive copy first, as our Twitter OSINT guide shows.

Step 5: Check if a tweet was deleted, by API

An API can tell you a post is gone, not what it said. Weir's API reference says it returns a 404 for a post that "does not exist, was deleted, or is not public."

curl https://api.weirapp.io/v1/x/posts/1744829327294837236 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $WEIR_API_KEY"
{ "error": { "code": "not_found", "message": "X post not found.", "retryable": false } }

A failed call costs nothing. To check up to 100 posts at once, use GET /v1/x/posts?ids=. Missing ids land in meta.notFound, unbilled.

We sent three @SECGov ids from that evening. Only the SEC's notice that its account "was compromised" came back:

{
  "data": [{ "id": "1744837121406349714", "createdAt": "2024-01-09T21:42:41.000Z" }],
  "meta": { "notFound": ["1744829327294837236", "1744829667318608211"] }
}

That call cost 2 credits: 1 for the call and 1 for the post that came back.

This script reads a file of saved ids, one per line, and prints the missing ones:

import os, sys, requests

ids = [line.strip() for line in open(sys.argv[1]) if line.strip()]
headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['WEIR_API_KEY']}"}

for start in range(0, len(ids), 100):
    batch = ",".join(ids[start:start + 100])
    r = requests.get("https://api.weirapp.io/v1/x/posts", params={"ids": batch},
                     headers=headers, timeout=60)
    r.raise_for_status()
    for post_id in r.json()["meta"]["notFound"]:
        print("not available:", post_id)

notFound also covers suspended, protected and withheld posts, so read it as "not public now." Use it on your own posts or public sources you cite, never to watch a private person.

How to see your own deleted tweets

Your X archive keeps your recent deletions. X's README for the archive says deleted-tweets.js holds posts deleted "in the last 14 days" that X hasn't purged yet.

Request the archive in Settings and privacy. X's Help Center says it "may take a few days" to prepare, and our guide to opening your Twitter archive walks through each step.

Our free Twitter Archive Viewer reads tweets.js, the posts you still have. Open deleted-tweets.js in a text editor instead. For anything older, go back to Steps 2 to 4.

Why can't a deleted tweets finder show it?

  • Nobody saved it. Archives hold only pages captured before the deletion.
  • Apps must forget it. X's Developer Policy says to delete removed posts "as soon as reasonably possible," or within 24 hours of a request from X.
  • Google's cache is gone. Older guides still suggest it, but Google's docs say "the cached link feature no longer exists."
  • It wasn't deleted. A protected or blocking account shows a similar notice.

That policy is why Twitter cut off Politwoops, an archive of politicians' deleted posts, in 2015. TechCrunch reported its reason: "preserving deleted Tweets violates our developer agreement."

When not to use Weir

  • You need the deleted words. Weir reads only what's public now, so use the archives in Steps 2 and 3.
  • You check one post by hand. The Wayback Machine and X's search cost nothing.
  • You want to watch someone's deletions. Our acceptable use policy bans using Weir to "track, monitor, or build profiles of specific individuals" without a lawful basis.
  • A contract with X is required. Weir isn't licensed by X, so access can change.

X's Terms of Service say you "cannot scrape the Services without X's express written permission," so check what applies to you. This isn't legal advice.

FAQ

How can I see someone's deleted tweets?

Paste the post's link into the Wayback Machine and archive.today, then search quoted_tweet_id: with its id for surviving quotes. If nobody saved a copy, the words are gone. X shows deleted posts to no one.

Is there a deleted tweets finder that works?

Not for other people's posts. X's Developer Policy makes apps delete posts that were deleted on X. Archives show only what someone saved, and an API check like our Step 5 script only confirms a post is gone.

Can I recover my own deleted tweets?

Only recent ones. Your X archive lists posts you deleted in about the last 14 days, in deleted-tweets.js. For older posts, try the Wayback Machine and the quotes search.

Sources

All checked on 22 October 2026. X's help pages block our reader, so we read their Wayback copies from September and October 2026.

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