Twitter users are testing the limits of the platform's new image-crop algorithm by posting massive memes
.jpg)
Twitter surprised users on Wednesday by rolling out a new, long-awaited feature: a better image-crop function on mobile devices.
The move, Variety reported, followed reports of racial bias in the platform's auto-cropping algorithm, which appeared to favor white people over Black people when cropping an image.
With an expanded ratio of photos now appearing on mobile Twitter feeds, users tested the limits of the feature by posting long photos and memes.
no bird too tall, no crop too short
— Twitter (@Twitter) May 5, 2021
introducing bigger and better images on iOS and Android, now available to everyone pic.twitter.com/2buHfhfRAx
As The Verge's Mitchell Clark noted, the feature does take away some of the fun by rendering "open for a surprise" tweets — ones where the punchline of the image is hidden when the image appears cropped — obsolete on mobile.
The change, which rolled out with little warning, led to several trending topics on Wednesday and Thursday. While the new format does appear to still have its limits (it will still crop an image if it's too big, but not quite as harshly), users were quick to experiment with the new algorithm by posting long images.
no more twitter crop! time for long cat ????✨ pic.twitter.com/Ar73zXJLxA
— hi i'm angel !! ???????? - taking a nap after finals (@VanillaCherie) May 6, 2021
It’s xxxHOLiC’s time to shine with the new Twitter crop. pic.twitter.com/qY3cIDUh0z
— ✨⛓Chainsaw Shan????✨ (@shannondrewthis) May 6, 2021
Thanks Twitter for removing crop now I can post thi-
— Sinnoh Shitpost ✨ (@DPPt_Shitpost) May 6, 2021
oh no pic.twitter.com/NpiP75IY2m
a reminder of how tall taylor swift is pic.twitter.com/PLYmeiREYn
— ً (@fancysnaake) May 6, 2021
Many users posted memes about Doug Dimmadone, a character from Nickelodeon's "Fairly Odd Parents" who is known for having a 10-gallon hat that. The character — particularly edited iterations of him with a dramatically stretched hat — has become a well-known meme online.
"Twitter Crop is gone?"
— JakeWhyman (@Jake_Whyman) May 5, 2021
Ha! We'll see about that!! pic.twitter.com/ww4Tz0YIwI
Doug Dimmadome says Twitter crop is still a thing pic.twitter.com/uxkWqVDgSD
— ????+carlos+???? (@RichHomieCarlos) May 5, 2021
Some tied the new image crop feature to a well-known Tumblr meme. In the early 2010s, a gradient image showing different colors of the sky began circulating in posts on Tumblr, Know Your Meme reported, typically accompanied by the caption, "Do you love the color of the sky?" The image became notorious for its length, and the inordinate amount of time it took to scroll past it, prompting ire for users who encountered it on their dashboard.
Since Twitter's new cropping feature doesn't appear to be limitless, it seems that particular evil has been avoided for now.
RIP twitter crop you would have loved the colour of the sky
— lacey (@byelacey) May 5, 2021
Artists who share their work on Twitter celebrated the change, given that they frequently had to guess how the platform would crop their work when they posted it, as Motherboard's Gita Jackson reported.
Twitter said in September 2020 that it was looking into why its cropping feature appeared to favor white faces over Black faces after users began to publicly test it on the platform, according to The Verge. A Twitter spokesperson told Variety that the launch on Wednesday was a "direct result of the feedback people shared with us last year that the way our algorithm cropped images wasn't equitable."