Twitter gets firmly roasted for telling users to ‘be sweet when you tweet’

Twitter’s social media team came up with a new strategy this fall: Act witty and cute on Twitter’s main account. There’s only one problem with the idea. Twitter isn’t a wholesome fast food company or video game mascot, it’s a website known for myriad problems with harassment.

That’s exactly why Twitter is getting dunked on for telling users to “be sweet when you tweet.” As it turns out, even Twitter won’t keep the site “sweet” because it doesn’t punish bad tweets.

https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/1052582817228607491

Twitter came up with the tweet on Wednesday morning, and it quickly went viral as users created replies and quote tweets taking digs at the social media company. Many pointed out how far right-wing personalities, Nazis, and crypto-fascists are given a free pass on the service, and others stressed that the site has a serious problem with harassment from those groups.

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
You give
blue checks
to Nazis
|＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿|
(•◡•) /
/
—
| |

— Geraldine Just Follow TheEverywhereist on Threads (@everywhereist) October 18, 2018

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
Someone
threatened my life
on your website
and you did nothing
|＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿|
(•◡•) /
/
—
| |

— Geraldine Just Follow TheEverywhereist on Threads (@everywhereist) October 18, 2018

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
If you sympathize
with Nazis that
makes you a
Nazi sympathizer
|＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿|
(•◡•) /
/
—
| |

— @brentreichenberger.bsky.social (@tristanreveur) October 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/EKSwitaj/status/1052803318672580608

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
Ban Nazis
you assholes
|＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿|
(•◡•) /
/
—
| | https://t.co/sSDiobOBue

— Rafi Schwartz (@TheJewishDream) October 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/milomumbles/status/1052655085472362497

Others pointed to an ongoing issue where Twitter suspends LGBTQ users, particularly trans people, over their tone toward bigots. Some are using the tweet as a launchpad to demand Twitter to stop going after marginalized users and actively suspend hate groups using the site to organize.

https://twitter.com/lilgayafg/status/1052601325542723584

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
This doesn’t
count as dealing with
your hate-infested
platform,
just so we’re clear.
|＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿|
(•◡•) /
/
—
| | https://t.co/6RcSuC2WTp

— Michaela Joffe (@joffeorama) October 17, 2018

Last week your support team strongly encouraged me to contact law enforcement if I thought I was in immediate danger after a bunch of men said they were going to rape me because I tweeted something un-ladylike about Kavanaugh. https://t.co/3zKEFposeq

— Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) October 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/captainkalvis/status/1052623411589996544

https://twitter.com/nyhcmaven84/status/1052586451026759680

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
You enable
white supremacists
|＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿|
(•◡•) /
/
—
| | https://t.co/6und2MEuZr

— matt benton (@mattdebenton) October 17, 2018

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
| Tell it to the Nazis
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿|
(•◡•) /
/
—
| | https://t.co/gkajmcdD0i

— andi zeisler (@andizeisler) October 17, 2018

｜￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣｜
｜Ｂａｎ　Ｎａｚｉｓ　｜
｜　　　ｙｏｕ　　　　｜
｜　ａｓｓｈｏｌｅｓ　｜
｜＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿｜
(_❀) ||
(•ㅅ•) ||
/ 　 づ https://t.co/F6CKbUiXhb

— Landlord Disliker (@bunnysay_ebooks) October 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/mintyfreshkid/status/1052670698311884802

To make things even worse, Twitter gave official word hours later that it would not remove an apparently anti-Semitic tweet from controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan because “comparing Jews to termites is not in violation of the company’s policies” and “the policy on dehumanizing language has not yet been implemented,” according to BuzzFeed News’ Joe Bernstein.

“So if you want to compare Jews to rats/insects—get it in while you can!” Bernstein quipped.

https://twitter.com/LouisFarrakhan/status/1052304476923719680

https://twitter.com/Bernstein/status/1052636257531154434

k pic.twitter.com/g9fIwL1Dqt

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) October 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/erinbiba/status/1052662064022474752

https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/1052644872145051649

Farrakhan needs to go, just like Alex Jones.
Anti-Semitism is unacceptable. https://t.co/ha1tlBWCim

— Stand with Ilhan! (@lghcox) October 18, 2018

|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
Deal with your
anti-Semitism problem
|＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿|
(•◡•) /
/
—
| | https://t.co/ndLtSUoDC4

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) October 17, 2018

Apparently, calling Jews termites is in your Venn Diagram of “sweet”. pic.twitter.com/hIjwPmMET9

— David Baddiel (@Baddiel) October 18, 2018

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Twitter remains under intense scrutiny from both the right and the left over its relatively lax moderation policies, and the latter in particular tends to feel the full brunt of Twitter’s laissez-faire anti-harassment enforcement. When it comes to being sweet when you tweet, it’s obvious that the rule only applies to a few users, not everyone.

https://twitter.com/anuraag_saxena/status/1052740768652124162