Elon Musk is currently Twitter’s largest shareholder. This allows the tech entrepreneur to potentially influence the company. Previously, he asked his followers if Twitter “strictly adheres to the principle of freedom of speech.” And now Musk is back with a new, pressing question.
With 9.2 percent of the shares in his hands and more than 80 million followers on the platform, it is safe to say that Elon Musk is going to have an influence on Twitter as a company. That’s why he’s extra in the picture right now, especially when it comes to asking high-profile questions. What he would like to know now: do you want an edit button for your tweets?
Elon Musk asks pressing question
At the time of writing, more than 2.2 million people have voted on his simple poll, with the options of “yes” or “no.” 73.7 percent of those who voted would like to see such a button that would allow them to edit their tweets afterwards. So it’s clear what people want: they want to be able to edit their tweets.
Twitter won’t load because you didn’t give permission.
Do you want an edit button?
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
So far, Twitter doesn’t want to go for it. The company’s position is that an edit button could lead to dangerous or unpleasant situations. For example, you might see a tweet, agree with its content and retweet it, only to find out later that the placer of the tweet is modifying the content to make fun of people.
Twitter does think about it
But that doesn’t mean the button will never come. The team behind Twitter has been thinking for years about a proper implementation of the button that Elon Musk is now asking a question about. It does have to be done “in the right way” and should “not detract from public mentions,” according to the former CEO, Jack Dorsey.
You may be given up to thirty seconds to edit a tweet after the fact to remove a typo. Email services already offer such options. Emails are then sent a little later, so you can still correct a spotted mistake. However, adjusting tweets from the past is probably never going to happen.
