Elon Musk asks if Twitter needs an edit feature, netizens weigh in

Interestingly, the poll came soon after Musk acquired a 9.2 per cent passive stake, worth nearly $3 billion, in Twitter.

Do you want an edit button?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal responded to the tweet with exactly what Musk said after asking people to vote yes or no to the question of whether Twitter adheres to principles of free speech. “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully,” was Agrawal’s cheeky response.

The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022

The question of introducing an edit feature on Twitter is a highly contested one, with strong arguments both for and against it. On April 1, Twitter had jokingly tweeted, “We are working on an edit button”.

Musk’s latest poll about the edit button has reignited this debate. Author Liz Wheeler, wrote, “Here’s my argument against an edit button: What if a tweet goes viral, lots of retweets & millions of impressions, & then the author completely changes the meaning? Not just a grammatical fix, but a TOTAL ideological change? Or shameless self-promote?”.

Under two conditions. It’s only available for a few minutes, 5-10 mins. And when an edit is made, there’s a small link that shows the edit. This keeps a public record but allows the tweeter the ability to fix a simple mistake and not re-notify their followers with a new tweet

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) April 5, 2022

We solved this on Facebook a long time ago. You just include an indicator that it has been edited along with a change log. If you are really worried about embeds they can point to a specific revision in that history but with a link to the latest edit. Not a real issue.

— Boz (@boztank) April 5, 2022

Should be timed. 5 min from tweet.

— Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) April 5, 2022

And accountability for EVERYTHING you type!
Some form ID to enable every twitter user to be REAL & liable!

— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) April 5, 2022

Yes, but there should be a period as well or else it can misuse so it can give around 10 minutes.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 5, 2022

On behalf of every social media manager in this world, YECK HESSS!!! https://t.co/AHItepna7r

— CupShup (@CupShup) April 5, 2022

Twitter is seen as a news source, if there’s an edit button. It’ll be very easy to spread misinformation, which defeats the purpose

— Toby Li (@tobyliiiiiiiiii) April 5, 2022

you gotta have 3 brain cells max if you don’t see the problem with editing tweets https://t.co/RUFziXwanG

— lau (@launders) April 5, 2022

The real question is why the hell wasn’t this a feature from the start https://t.co/49SsF20myT

— Etherium Apex (@EtheriumApex) April 5, 2022

“The real question is why the hell wasn’t this a feature from the start,” another person remarked in favour of the editing option. Many suggested that the edit option should come with a feature that shows when and how many times the tweet has been edited.

It will be interesting to see if Twitter actually makes any changes with regards to its much-debated “edit” feature.