What is Be Sweet When You Tweet?

An October 17th, 2018 tweet from the official @Twitter account showing ASCII art of someone with a sign reading 'Be sweet when you tweet,' which replies turned into a template for mocking Twitter's moderation record.

Where did Be Sweet When You Tweet come from?

The official @Twitter account posted the ASCII art tweet on October 17th, 2018, and it got more than 48,000 retweets and 148,000 likes before replies began parodying it.

What does Be Sweet When You Tweet mean?

In the parody context, it points out the gap between Twitter's politeness advice and the platform's record of keeping Nazi accounts, harassers and anti-semitic content on the site.

How do you use Be Sweet When You Tweet?

Users typically repost the ASCII figure and rewrite the sign to name a specific Twitter moderation failure, like @everywhereist's 'you give blue checkmarks to nazis' version.

Is Be Sweet When You Tweet still popular?

No, it was a short backlash tied to October 2018 and the Louis Farrakhan termite video controversy, not an ongoing meme format.

Be Sweet When You Tweet

2018catchphrasedead

Published October 24, 2026

In October 2018, the official @Twitter account posted an ASCII art drawing of a person holding a sign reading 'Be sweet when you tweet'2. Replies rewrote the sign to accuse Twitter of keeping Nazi accounts, harassers and a Louis Farrakhan video comparing Jews to termites up on the site while suspending ordinary users1. Daily Dot collected the whole backlash later that same week1.

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Overview

Replies to the ASCII sign swapped its caption for accusations about Twitter's moderation calls. @everywhereist's version read 'you give blue checkmarks to nazis' and got over 300 retweets with 3,800 likes1. @EKSwitaj posted a version where the sign read 'You locked my disabled cat's account but won't ban Nazis'3.

Across the parodies, the figure and sign shape stayed consistent while the caption changed, each new sign naming a specific group that users said Twitter mishandled, usually Nazis and TERF accounts versus suspensions aimed at women, POC and trans users on the receiving end of harassment1.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter

Creator

@Twitter

Date

2018

On October 17th, 2018, the official @Twitter account tweeted an ASCII art image of a person holding a sign that read 'Be sweet when you tweet'2. That post picked up more than 48,000 retweets and 148,000 likes2. Mocking replies started appearing in the same thread almost right away, pointing at Twitter's record of leaving hate speech and harassment on the site while banning the users who called it out1.

How It Spread

Parody edits moved fast. @everywhereist's remix calling out blue checkmark policy got over 300 retweets and 3,800 likes1, and @EKSwitaj's sign about a locked disabled cat account went around the same evening3.

The timing worked against Twitter. The company had just decided to leave up a video from Louis Farrakhan comparing Jews to termites4, saying it was 'not in violation of the company's policies' per user @Bernstein1. Readers posted the Farrakhan clip next to the 'Be Sweet When You Tweet' image to show the gap between what Twitter asked and what it enforced, and Daily Dot wrote the roast up a few days later1.

Timeline

2018-10

Louis Farrakhan posts a video comparing Jews to termites; Twitter decides to leave it up, saying it does not violate company policy.

2018-10-17

The official @Twitter account posts the ASCII art image reading 'Be sweet when you tweet,' which picks up over 48,000 retweets and 148,000 likes.

2018-10-17

@everywhereist posts a parody with the sign reading 'you give blue checkmarks to nazis'; @EKSwitaj posts one about a locked disabled cat's account.

2018-10-18

Daily Dot publishes a writeup collecting the parody responses as a backlash against Twitter's moderation record.

How to Use This Meme

To make a 'Be Sweet When You Tweet' edit, users typically keep the original ASCII art of the figure and the sign, then replace the caption with a line that names a specific Twitter moderation failure, usually citing an account that stayed up or a user who got suspended3.