Twitter is working on an edit button

Twitter has announced on Tuesdayto work on a tweet editing feature. Such an edit button should enable users to correct spelling mistakes and other errors even after they have been sent, without having to forego the likes, retweets or replies that have already been collected.

The feature has been repeatedly requested by many Twitter users. The demand has now become part of internet culture: “Tweets, but editable” became a popular response to a popular tweet in which a spelling mistake was discovered. So far, the only option is to correct the error in a reply or to delete the tweet entirely and rewrite it. An April 1 announcement by Twitter that they were working on the feature was then dismissed as an April Fool’s joke. Confirmation followed a few days later.

However, not all users are equally pleased with the prospect of editable tweets. It is often argued that a change after publication could falsify the meaning of a tweet. Jack Dorsey, the short message service’s founder and until recently CEO, was also opposed to an edit button.

Two years ago he said in one video interviewthat Twitter may never introduce an edit function. Dorsey cites the history of Twitter as the reason. «We started as a short message or SMS service. And as you all know, once you send a message, you can’t really take it back,” he says. “We wanted to keep that feeling at first.”

However, in the same video, Dorsey also notes that Twitter has evolved and there are good reasons for the feature, but it can also be abused. Should the edit button actually appear, another relic from the SMS era would disappear. In 2017, Twitter doubled the number of characters allowed per tweet to 280.

Established on the meta platforms

While Twitter has long resisted an edit button, post-editing of content on Facebook and Instagram has been possible for a long time. As an indication of this, a small note is displayed for edited posts. However, abuse remains possible: As the former security chief of the Meta group, Alex Stamos, running on TwitterFacebook’s edit function was recently introduced in the context a crypto scam abused. Up to ten years old posts on a Facebook profile were changed in order to give potential victims the impression of a long-standing, successful investment in cryptocurrencies.

How exactly the edit button is implemented on Twitter is unclear. The feature will be tested in the coming months on Twitter Blue Labs, a test environment for paying subscribers. A function is currently being tested here that allows users to withdraw a tweet before it is distributed on the platform.

As the Head of Consumer Product Jay Sullivan says, the function should be built in a “safe way”. Without things like time limits, control features, and transparency about what has been edited, the feature can be abused to change public debate. “Protecting the integrity of the public debate is our highest priority in these plans,” he said in a tweet the end.

The announcement about the edit button came shortly after it was announced on Monday that Elon Musk had acquired 9.2 percent of Twitter shares and had been appointed to the board of directors. However, the company explained with a wink that it has been working on the function for the past year and did not get the idea from a survey. An allusion to a Twitter poll on the subjectwhich Elon Musk launched earlier this week.

However, it seems possible that Musk already knew at this point that Twitter’s April 1 announcement was not a hoax. At least he has been in contact with CEO Parag Agrawal for a few weeks, as he writes in a tweet.

Looking back, Musk’s other tweets also appear in a new light. At the March 24 he asked in a survey whether the Twitter algorithm should be available as open source. An idea that was well received by former CEO Jack Dorsey, among others. A day later, Musk asked his followers: “Free speech is essential for a functioning democracy. Do you think Twitter strictly adheres to this principle?” And, after the survey had returned a no, asked whether a new platform was needed.

New momentum after Musk’s entry

Elon Musk is one of the most high-profile Twitter users. He likes to hand it out and has already received a fine from the stock exchange supervisory authority for a tweet about Tesla because he misled the shareholders. He has also not held back with criticism of the platform in the past. It often remains unclear to what extent the statements are meant seriously.

The fact that he is now both the largest shareholder and has a seat on the board of directors definitely brings a new dynamic to the company. The indication that the edit function has been in the planning for some time can also be interpreted as a sign that in the future not only Elon Musk will set the direction of Twitter with his polls.

Like the New York Times reported, Twitter has been thinking about how to make social networks more decentralized and transparent for some time. For example, by giving users more freedom of choice when moderating content in their personal feed. Last year, Twitter did that Bluesky brought to life. The independent project aims to develop a protocol for a decentralized social network.

Such a platform with less central control should also please crypto and blockchain enthusiast Elon Musk. Thanks to his new role on Twitter, discussions about the future of the platform should now reach a much wider public.