Retweet

Twitter has made some changes to its platform, and one of the fan-favorite options is gone (for now). The recent update to the social media platform has a lot of users confused, and if you've also been wondering why Twitter won’t let you retweet, there's actually a pretty simple explanation — and you can still retweet as you'd please. The update, which dropped on Tuesday, Oct. 20, is a temporary change for the platform in light of the upcoming presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Usually, when you try to retweet a tweet on Twitter desktop, Twitter gives you two options: 'Retweet' or 'Quote Retweet.' With the temporary change, any retweet is automatically a quote retweet, which means you'll see the compose comment box above the tweet you want to retweet. The social media platform explained the change to retweets in a blog post detailing election information efforts on Friday, Oct. 9.

To retweet a link, follow these steps: Find the word Retweet and the Retweet icon on the tweet that you’d like to forward to your followers. Click the word Retweet or the two-bent-arrows icon. A confirmation dialog box pops up. Reblogging (or, in Twitter parlance, retweeting) is the mechanism in blogging which allows users to repost the content of another user's post with an indication that the source of the post is another user.

Twitter implemented the change in an effort to combat misinformation and to encourage users to add a comment and give more consideration to their retweets during the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election. But now that you know why the update is here, you probably also want to know how to get back to retweeting.

If you don't want to quote tweet with a comment above your retweet, simple leave the text field blank and hit the 'Retweet' button, and it will appear as a regular retweet on your timeline. If you want to add a comment, you can do so as you normally would with a quote tweet.

Before Twitter announced the update in a tweet on Wednesday, Oct. 21, there was some confusion, since the change began showing up on Twitter for desktop as early as Oct. 9 for some users. According to the blog, the retweet update will last through the end of the week of the election, which is on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Twitter may extend the feature if needed.

The initial user reaction was a mixed bag of confusion and dismay:

It's not clear if the retweet update is also on everyone's mobile app, but it may be rolling out. If you notice the retweet update there, you can use the same method to retweet without a comment.

Another temporary change is the removal of 'liked by' and 'followed by' recommendations in your timeline and notifications. These won't be gone forever, but leading up to the election, the social media platform wants to remove these since many people hit the 'Like' button without giving the tweet more consideration.

Finally, Twitter is also removing any Trends in the 'For You' tab in the United States that lack additional context. You'll now only get Trends with a description tweet or an article that tells you why something is trending. Its aim is to quickly inform users, and it's another step from Twitter to add more context to Trends.

As of publication, it remains unclear if the change to retweets will last longer than Election Week, but you can still retweet without commenting, thanks to the workaround.

Where do Retweets appear?

Tweets Retweeted by other people:

• You can see Tweets people you follow have Retweeted and Quote Tweeted in your Home timeline.
• Retweet and Quote Tweets, like regular Tweets, will not show up from accounts you have blocked.

Your Tweets that others have Retweeted and Quote Tweeted:

• Go to your Notifications tab. There you will see all activity concerning your Tweets—including which have recently been Retweeted and by whom.
• From the Tweet detail page, you’ll be able to see how many Retweets of your Tweet there are, in additon to how many Quote Tweets there are.
  • To view who Retweeted you, tap the Retweets tab.
  • To view who Quote Tweeted you, tap the Quote Tweets tab.

How do I turn Retweets off?

Retweetlerim

• You can turn off Retweets for a specific account if you don’t like what they share. Select Turn off Retweets from an account profile page to stop seeing Tweets they've Retweeted (tap the gear icon on iOS or click or tap the overflow icon on web and Android).
• Turning Retweets on or off is not retroactive, meaning that you can't remove Retweets that are already in your timeline.
• It is not possible to turn off ALL Retweets from ALL accounts.

How can I undo or delete my Retweet?

• You can undo a Retweet you've made by clicking on the highlighted Retweet icon in the Tweet. This will remove the Retweet from your timeline, but will not delete the original Tweet.

Why can I no longer see my Retweet?

• If the original Tweet was deleted by its author or otherwise removed from the service, or if the original Tweet author’s account was deleted or suspended, your Retweet will no longer be available.

Retweets A

Why can't some Tweets be Retweeted?

• If you see the lock icon next to someone's name on their profile page or on their Tweets, their Tweets are protected and you will not be able to Retweet their content.
• If your Tweets are protected, you can still Retweet and Quote Tweet. Only people you have allowed to follow you will be able to view them.
• You can see protected Tweets from an account you follow in your timeline because that account has accepted your follow request, but because they have chosen not to share their Tweets publicly, their Tweets cannot be Retweeted by you or anyone else.

Are there limits on Retweets?

Retweet Icon

• There is no limit to the number of times a Tweet can be Retweeted, but Twitter will only show up to the most recent 100 people who Retweeted any public Tweet.
• Retweets are counted toward your 1,000 Tweets per day limit.