Twitter Edit Button Is Really Happening, Company Has Been Working On It Since Last Year

Last Updated on April 6, 2022 by Anu Joy

Just yesterday, Tesla CEO and Twitter’s largest shareholder, Elon Musk, tweeted a poll asking users if they wanted an edit button. Soon after, Twitter announced that an edit feature will be rolled out in the coming months, adding that the poll had nothing to do with the upcoming feature.

Before you get too excited, do note that the new feature will appear for select Twitter Blue members, as it is still in the testing stage. Twitter said that the update has been in the works since the past year. The social media company will kick off testing within the company’s subscription service—Twitter Blue. The video accompanying Twitter’s announcement offers a peek at the upcoming edit button.  

Editing a tweet has been one of the most requested features on the site, which was clearly evident by the results of Musk’s poll. Twitter had announced on Tuesday that the Tesla CEO would join the board of the company, a day after he became its largest shareholder, with a 9.2 percent stake for $2.9 billion. The social media platform had previously posted that it was working on an edit button on April 1, which most shrugged off as an April Fool’s Day joke.

Twitter has been rolling out a few tweaks along the years, with one of the major features being its Twitter Blue subscription service.

Our Take

An edit option would be great for correcting an embarrassing typo or a tweet that was fired off at the heat of the moment, but the same could open up a Pandora’s box. For instance, someone could revisit their old tweets and change the content to mislead others. To prevent such misleading edits, Twitter could perhaps allow tweets to be edited within a limited window of time. Adding ‘edited’ to the tweet would also be useful, as it will show that the tweet was changed.

Now that Musk has the largest stake in the company, what changes do you think he will bring to the platform? Let us know down in the comments!