What Is The 'This Tweet Has Been Deleted' Rule?

There's nothing like seeing someone's shame so tangibly represented in the form of "This tweet has been deleted."

After Twitter user @nizedatpussy pointed out how those five simple words give a screenshotted tweet a rich backstory that instantly makes it exponentially funnier, others have reveled in some of the best tweets from the site's illustrious history that the poster obviously tried and failed to erase from the site.

What Is The "This Tweet Has Been Deleted" Rule?

As with other Twitter rules like the Ratio and the Main Character, Twitter's developing "deleted tweet" rule is an unofficial observation of how Twitter's userbase operates. In the case of the "deleted tweet" rule, the idea is that someone realizing that the thing they posted is inane, misguided, or out-of-pocket makes their initial failed tweet much more humorous, a moment of shame immortalized for eternity in the form of a jpeg.

Because Twitter has long been a technically flawed website, even before Elon Musk took over, deleting a tweet doesn't immediately erase it from a timeline. Instead, if a user is on Twitter at the time a tweet is deleted, it will remain there. At that point, a user can click the now-deleted tweet and be taken to the tweet's URL, where it sits with the message "This tweet has been deleted" under it. It won't go away until a user refreshes a timeline.

So far, it's led to hundreds of terrific "caught in 4k" tweets, where users were able to grab screenshots of shame moments before they disappeared off the internet. In response to @nizedatpussy's tweet, some of the best examples of deleted tweets began spreading online.

Is "This Tweet Has Been Deleted" Here To Stay?

Time will tell if the "This tweet has been deleted" rule will join its fellow Twitter axioms as mainstays of the site, and there are some obstacles standing in its way. Unlike The Ratio and the Main Character, the Deleted Tweet rule relies on a technical aspect of Twitter, and it's entirely possible that down the line, deleting tweets will actually delete tweets instantly, instead of going away only when a user refreshes their timeline. However, considering Twitter's functionality has reportedly gotten worse in recent weeks while it hemorrhages staff, a deleted tweet "fix" is likely not going to happen any time soon.

For more information, check out the Know Your Meme entry for the 'This tweet has been deleted' rule.