The $500K Tool That Got Me a Cease-and-Desist from 𝕏

I wasn’t trying to break the rules—I was just trying to survive.

A few months ago, I had $15 in my bank account, a toddler to take care of, and the gnawing feeling that I was running out of options. I live in a place where opportunities don’t come easy. Payments are hard to collect, tools and platforms are geo-restricted, and even when you have talent, the global market feels just out of reach.

But one thing I knew for sure? Social media is where the money is. Specifically, 𝕏 (formerly Twitter). Brands, creators, marketers—they all need to get their message out, and I saw an opportunity there.

The problem was, nobody had cracked the code for scaling outreach effectively.

That’s where my story begins.

I’m a developer by trade, so when the idea hit me, I spent days obsessing over it. What if there was a way to target leads on 𝕏 with absolute precision? What if you could find the exact people who’d want to buy what you’re selling and message them all in one go? No spam, no guessing—just a clean, focused strategy.

So I rolled up my sleeves, opened my laptop, and started building.

The process wasn’t glamorous—lots of trial and error, late nights, and caffeine-fueled coding sessions. I had no budget, no team, and no resources—just determination and a problem I was hell-bent on solving. After a few months of pushing myself to the limit, I finally had something: a tool that could scrape millions of profiles from 𝕏 and automate personalized outreach.

At first, I wasn’t sure if it would work. But when I tested it on a small campaign, the results blew my mind. In just days, I saw conversions that I’d never thought were possible. People started responding. Deals started closing. The tool worked.

I knew I had something big on my hands, so I decided to package it and sell licenses to marketers, agencies, and creators. I set the price high because I believed in the value it provided—$4,997 for a license. And to my surprise, people were willing to pay. Within weeks, I sold dozens of licenses.

And then the floodgates opened.

By the time summer hit, I’d sold hundreds of licenses and made over $500K. It wasn’t just a tool anymore—it was a movement. People started posting about how the tool helped them close deals, grow their businesses, and dominate their niches. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was winning.

But then came the storm. The email.

In November, I woke up to an email from 𝕏’s legal team—a cease-and-desist letter. And it wasn’t just a slap on the wrist; it was a 13-page document outlining every way I’d violated their Terms of Service and federal laws. They accused me of unauthorized data scraping, breaking the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and other things I couldn’t even pronounce.

They even quoted my tweets, where I (foolishly) bragged about the tool’s capabilities:

“Scraping 2M profiles a day with sniper precision.”
“Sold $100K in licenses this month. Illegal? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.”

I won’t lie—it shook me. I’d built something that was genuinely helping people, but it had also crossed some serious lines.

They banned my account, shut down my API access, and threatened me with further legal action if I didn’t stop immediately. It felt like the end of the road.

But here’s the thing: I don’t regret a second of it.

That cease-and-desist wasn’t just a threat—it was proof that I’d built something powerful enough to get the attention of one of the biggest companies in the world. It validated everything I’d been working toward.

Sure, I can’t share testimonials or public social proof because of legal restrictions, but the numbers speak for themselves: Hundreds of licenses sold, $500K in revenue, and countless businesses transformed.

The tool is still technically up and running.

Even now, it quietly delivers for those who know how to use it. I’m pivoting to build new, compliant solutions, but this journey taught me one thing: the real impact comes when you’re bold enough to step outside the lines.

If you’re out there grinding, building, and hustling—remember this: the system isn’t broken; it’s rigged to keep you in your place. I don’t wait for permission, and I sure don’t play by their rules.

Build. Disrupt. Win.

Don’t fold under pressure. Let them hate from the sidelines—because that’s exactly where they’ll stay.

This isn’t the end of my story—It’s just the beginning.

Thanks for sticking around this far.

Good day 👋🏻