# This Website Is Free

This Website Is Free is a Twitter catchphrase slapped onto screenshots of strange, embarrassing, or confidently wrong interactions found on the platform. First posted bare by @dmonz2000 in April 2012, it took off as a reaction format in 2017 and 2018 and became one of the defining ways Twitter users mocked their own feed.

## Origin
The earliest known usage traces to Twitter user @dmonz2000, who posted the bare line 'This website is free.' on April 16, 2012[2]. The post was not attached to a screenshot and did not reference anything in particular, so it read more as a stray observation than the setup for a reaction format[7].

The template as it is used today, caption plus screenshot, took shape years later as Twitter users borrowed the phrase for genuinely bizarre exchanges they stumbled onto in the wild.

- **Platform:** Twitter
- **Creator:** @dmonz2000 (earliest known poster)
- **Date:** 2012

## Overview
The format pairs a screenshot, usually a reply chain or a confidently wrong post, with the deadpan caption 'This website is free' or the variant 'This website costs zero dollars'[1]. The joke lands when the exchange is so strange, embarrassing, or entertaining that paying nothing to witness it feels like a bug rather than a feature.

Common targets include public figures contradicting their own old tweets, strangers making obvious errors in sports or art criticism, and brand accounts arguing with each other[1]. The Daily Dot described it as a way to point out moments 'when Twitter seems too good to be free', while also noting the darker tradeoff that users pay with data and emotional wear[1].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is This Website Is Free?
It is a Twitter catchphrase used as a caption on screenshots of absurd, embarrassing, or confidently wrong exchanges found on the platform[1].

### Where did This Website Is Free come from?
Twitter user @dmonz2000 posted the line on April 16, 2012, though it was not attached to a screenshot at the time[2].

### What does This Website Is Free mean?
It is a joke that Twitter content is so entertaining or ridiculous it would be worth paying for, so getting it for nothing feels absurd[1].

### How do you use This Website Is Free?
Users screenshot a strange or self-owning Twitter exchange and post it with the caption 'this website is free' or 'this website costs zero dollars'[1].

### Is This Website Is Free still popular?
It is a classic Twitter reaction format from the mid 2010s, with its biggest moments between 2017 and 2018 including the Tomi Lahren thread and the sculptor correction post[5][6].

## References
1. [https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/twitter-this-website-is-free/](<https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/twitter-this-website-is-free/>)
2. [https://twitter.com/dmonz2000/status/191988778133504000](<https://twitter.com/dmonz2000/status/191988778133504000>)
3. [https://twitter.com/fergoe/status/557747529413320705](<https://twitter.com/fergoe/status/557747529413320705>)
4. [https://twitter.com/AzeemTeam/status/627273211886104576](<https://twitter.com/AzeemTeam/status/627273211886104576>)
5. [https://twitter.com/god_hates_jags/status/818664082836516865](<https://twitter.com/god_hates_jags/status/818664082836516865>)
6. [https://twitter.com/nrrrdcore/status/970199552207679489](<https://twitter.com/nrrrdcore/status/970199552207679489>)
7. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-website-is-free](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-website-is-free>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/this-website-is-free
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