Twitter Announces Upcoming ‘Edit Tweet’ Feature

Twitter Announces Upcoming ‘Edit Tweet’ Feature

Twitter is now testing out its highly-anticipated Edit Tweet feature.

According to reports, the social media platform announced on Thursday (September 1) that its team has started internally testing an edit button, with plans to expand the tests soon. In the coming weeks, Twitter will roll out the tool for users of Twitter’s paid version, Twitter Blue, which costs $4.99 per month in the U.S.

According to the company’s statement, although the feature will only be available to Twitter Blue subscribers in its initial rollout, all Twitter users will be able to see if a tweet has been edited.

Reportedly, users can edit their tweet a number of times within a 30-minute window after it is first posted. Twitter said tweets that have been edited will be easily identified by an icon, timestamp, and label. Tapping the label will allow users to see previous versions of the tweet.

Twitter said the time limit and version history components were critical to

“help protect the integrity of the conversation and create a publicly accessible record of what was said.” 

The company said it would track any “misuse” of the feature in its rollout. The expanded Twitter Blue phase of the test will begin in a single country before being further expanded. As far as Twitter’s hopes for the edit function, the company shared,

“We’re hoping that, with the availability of Edit Tweet, tweeting will feel more approachable and less stressful. You should be able to participate in the conversation in a way that makes sense to you, and we’ll keep working on ways that make it feel effortless to do just that.”

The highly-requested edit button comes amid Twitter’s ongoing lawsuit against Tesla CEO Elon Musk for backing out of buying the media platform. He had been an advocate for an edit feature.

As previously reported, Twitter launched a lawsuit against Elon Musk on July 12 to “compel” his completion of a $44 billion buyout of the social media company. He backed out of the deal because Twitter was in “breach of multiple provisions” of an original agreement. Elon Musk, 51, feels that Twitter did not provide enough information about the number of fake accounts and bots on its network and didn’t give his team sufficient data to do their own investigation.

Elon Musk

This week, Musk added a new reason for terminating the Twitter deal. Representatives for the SpaceX CEO sent a letter to Twitter’s general counsel and head of legal, Vijay Gadde, citing “an additional notice of termination.”

Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, a hacker and the former head of security for Twitter, filed a complaint against the company and alleges multiple forms of misconduct at the social media network. The businessman’s legal team argued that if Peiter Zatko’s allegations against Twitter are correct, “the Musk Parties [have] the right to terminate the Merger Agreement.” Twitter responded by denying the allegations.

Elon Musk

On October 17, Twitter and Musk will reportedly settle their suit at the Delaware Court of Chancery for a five-day trial. Twitter would like Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick to compel the investor to buy Twitter at the originally agreed-upon amount, whereas Musk is hoping to avoid the purchase.

Elon Musk

What are your thoughts on Twitter creating an edit feature? Let us know in the comments below! 

[Sources: 1, 2, 3]