[GH-ISSUE #1419] [Twitter] error.api.fetch.empty on age-restricted content #5318

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GiteaMirror · 2026-04-16T00:43:37-05:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-16 00:43:37 -05:00

Originally created by @fclivaz42 on GitHub (Aug 17, 2025).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/imputnet/cobalt/issues/1419

bug description

After setting my cookies for the twitter service on a self-hosted instance, i still am unable to fetch age-restricted content, being greeted with error.api.fetch.empty.
I have set my cookies in the cookies.json file and i know they are being loaded because i set a dummy cookie for a site that doesn't exist and the console shows me that it ignored that unknown service. I have tried to only set ct0 and auth_token or all of the available cookies, with no avail.

reproduction steps

set cookies in cookies.json with the data of account that has access to age-restricted content
attempt to fetch a link that is considered age-restricted (eg. https://twitter.com/coderonex/status/1954811243606184133)
a wild api.error.fetch.empty appears!

screenshots

links

https://twitter.com/coderonex/status/1954811243606184133

platform information

self-hosted instance (11.4.1, docker container freshly pulled)

additional context

No response

Originally created by @fclivaz42 on GitHub (Aug 17, 2025). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/imputnet/cobalt/issues/1419 ### bug description After setting my cookies for the twitter service on a self-hosted instance, i still am unable to fetch age-restricted content, being greeted with `error.api.fetch.empty`. I have set my cookies in the cookies.json file and i know they are being loaded because i set a dummy cookie for a site that doesn't exist and the console shows me that it ignored that unknown service. I have tried to only set ct0 and auth_token or *all* of the available cookies, with no avail. ### reproduction steps 1. set cookies in cookies.json with the data of account that has access to age-restricted content 2. attempt to fetch a link that is considered age-restricted (eg. https://twitter.com/coderonex/status/1954811243606184133) 3. a wild `api.error.fetch.empty` appears! ### screenshots <img width="793" height="290" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/cbd73265-c7e4-4b0e-8458-d5daa56fce7b" /> <img width="990" height="180" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8c695aa2-1e8b-454e-83c3-7f3730e940be" /> ### links ```shell https://twitter.com/coderonex/status/1954811243606184133 ``` ### platform information self-hosted instance (11.4.1, docker container freshly pulled) ### additional context _No response_

GiteaMirror added the bug label 2026-04-16 00:43:37 -05:00

GiteaMirror closed this issue

2026-04-16 00:43:37 -05:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-16 00:43:38 -05:00

@abishek77s commented on GitHub (Sep 19, 2025):

The link works on the live website without any issue, did you provide the right link because it was a simple SFW animation.

@abishek77s commented on GitHub (Sep 19, 2025): The link works on the live website without any issue, did you provide the right link because it was a simple SFW animation.

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-16 00:43:38 -05:00

@dumbmoron commented on GitHub (Sep 19, 2025):

this was likely resolved by #1436

@dumbmoron commented on GitHub (Sep 19, 2025): this was likely resolved by #1436

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-16 00:43:39 -05:00

@fclivaz42 commented on GitHub (Sep 27, 2025):

this was likely resolved by #1436

Just as a clarification: which are the necessary cookies for Coblat to run properly? I would like to try again (still getting error.api.fetch.empty) and report results properly.

The link works on the live website without any issue, did you provide the right link because it was a simple SFW animation.

I did! I tried it personally as well, opening in an icognito tab resulted in Twitter saying that the link did not exist. Using my logged account worked, though. Yet self-hosted Cobalt resulted in the error. It is a SFW animation but it somehow got recognized as age-restricted?

@fclivaz42 commented on GitHub (Sep 27, 2025): > this was likely resolved by [#1436](https://github.com/imputnet/cobalt/pull/1436) Just as a clarification: which are the *necessary* cookies for Coblat to run properly? I would like to try again (still getting `error.api.fetch.empty`) and report results properly. > The link works on the live website without any issue, did you provide the right link because it was a simple SFW animation. I did! I tried it personally as well, opening in an icognito tab resulted in Twitter saying that the link did not exist. Using my logged account worked, though. Yet self-hosted Cobalt resulted in the error. It is a SFW animation but it somehow got recognized as age-restricted?

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-16 00:43:39 -05:00

@fclivaz42 commented on GitHub (Jan 2, 2026):

Hello again @dumbmoron . This issue hasnt been solved since that day and even though the main cobalt.tools website works properly, trying to pull links twitter considers 18+ (which includes art references id like to save...) through a self-hosted instance ends up in the api.fetch.empty error i mentionned.

I set the auth_token and ct0 variables in cookie.json just like the docs and yet I am getting the api.fetch.empty.

this is what opening the link i sent above ( https://twitter.com/coderonex/status/1954811243606184133 ) does. So twitter considers it 18+.

Yet trying to pull it from the self-hosted instance (v11.5) results in the error I mentionned, as shown above (command truncated to hide API key).

I genuinely have NO idea what I am doing wrong or what is happening (because if i recall correctly cobalt used the proper age restricted error back then?) hence why I am here.

@fclivaz42 commented on GitHub (Jan 2, 2026): Hello again @dumbmoron . This issue hasnt been solved since that day and even though the main cobalt.tools website works properly, trying to pull links twitter considers 18+ (which includes art references id like to save...) through a self-hosted instance ends up in the `api.fetch.empty` error i mentionned. I set the `auth_token` and `ct0` variables in cookie.json just like the docs and yet I am getting the `api.fetch.empty`. <img width="787" height="242" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/82daaa20-ba3f-46d5-9d42-6ba9f56e1f19" /> this is what opening the link i sent above ( https://twitter.com/coderonex/status/1954811243606184133 ) does. So twitter considers it 18+. <img width="908" height="72" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f9807270-9605-4858-88f9-8449ad784ce9" /> Yet trying to pull it from the self-hosted instance (v11.5) results in the error I mentionned, as shown above (command truncated to hide API key). I genuinely have NO idea what I am doing wrong or what is happening (because if i recall correctly cobalt used the proper age restricted error back then?) hence why I am here.

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-16 00:43:39 -05:00

@fclivaz42 commented on GitHub (Feb 24, 2026):

Update: Somehow it's fixed now.

@fclivaz42 commented on GitHub (Feb 24, 2026): Update: Somehow it's fixed now.

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Reference: github-starred/cobalt#5318