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Twitter has temporarily changed its retweet system. When you try to retweet something, you’ll see the “quote tweet” dialog that asks you to share your own thoughts. Here’s how to send a normal retweet instead.

What’s the Difference Between a Retweet and Quote Tweet?

What’s the difference? Well, when you send a normal retweet, you’re sharing the original tweet directly. The other account’s tweet will directly appear in your followers’ timeline. Any interactions—including likes, comments, and further normal retweets—will be associated directly with the original tweet.

When you send a quote tweet, your followers will see whatever comment you type with the original tweet embedded. Any interactions on the tweet—like likes and comments—will be associated with your quote tweet rather than the original tweet. As The Verge notes, a lot of artists are upset about this.

How to Retweet Without Quote Tweeting on Twitter

Luckily, sending a normal retweet is still pretty simple. To do so, just click or tap the normal Retweet button on Twitter’s website or in a Twitter app.

Twitter will show you the Quote Tweet dialog and ask you to add a comment. Don’t type anything here—just click or tap the “Retweet” button.

If you don’t enter anything in this dialog, Twitter will send a normal retweet instead of a quote tweet.


This change was implemented worldwide on October 20, 2020. Twitter says it will “assess [the] continued necessity” of it and other changes after the end of the 2020 election in the USA.

Profile Photo for Chris Hoffman Chris Hoffman
Chris Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. He's written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Chris has written for The New York Times and Reader's Digest, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami's NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than one billion times---and that's just here at How-To Geek.
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