Don’t Search "X" on the GIFs Tab, Worst Mistake of My Life

About

Don’t Search "X" on the GIFs Tab, Worst Mistake of My Life refers to a series of engagement bait posts on Twitter / X that use the Peter Running From a Plane GIF (showing Peter Griffin from Family Guy) to bait people into searching a term on Twitter's GIFs tab. The term usually alludes to provocative search results. The tweet format became increasingly common in 2024, leading to parodies and satirization that criticized the gimmick accounts that continually used it. Many of the posts earned Community Notes that alleged the account's goal was to bait engagement to promote explicit content like OnlyFans models.

Origin

On January 6th, 2024, X^[1] user @TrixieEncurtido tweeted the GIF of Peter Griffin running, captioned, "DON'T SEARCH 'p1ckledpea' IN THE GIFS TAB AND LOOK AT THE FIRST RESULT!! WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE!!!!" gaining over 26,000 likes in a day (shown below). @TrixieEncurtido's account is suspended as of March 6th, 2024, and the tweet has been deleted.^[1]

Spread

After the tweet's virality, others on the app copied the format, similarly referencing their own usernames as the term not to search. For instance, on January 7th, 2024, X^[2] user @irondem1907 tweeted the format with their username, gaining over 19,000 likes in two months (shown below, left).

Parodies started to surface soon after, like a tweet shared by X^[3] user @JumboJoshBrahhh on January 8th, 2024, reading, "NEVER search 'Peter Griffin running' in the GIFs tab. Worst decision of my life!" earning over 41.1 million views and 2,000 likes in two months (shown below, right).

Going into 2024, users became less subtle with their bait, such as X^[4] user @UmdarTamker on February 1st, 2024, who urged people not to search for Mia Khalifa in the GIFs tab, gaining over 25,000 likes in a month (shown below, left).

On March 5th, 2024, X^[5] user @crim_tweets_ tweeted the format, referencing actress Sydney Sweeney, receiving over 14,000 likes in a day (shown below, right).

@crim_tweets_'s tweet received criticism in quotes, like one posted by X^[6] user @ExtremeBlitz__ on March 6th, 2024, who wrote, "if I see this fucking gif one more time," gaining over 10,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, left).

Later on March 6th, 2024, a community note^[7] for @crim_tweets_'s tweet was rated helpful, alleging that the post was a "disguised ad" for an OnlyFans account, violating X's rules (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References