Jay Sullivan, Twitter's head of consumer product, said an editing tool has been the most requested Twitter feature for years. "People want to be able to fix (sometimes embarrassing) mistakes, typos and hot takes in the moment," Sullivan tweeted, adding that people usually delete their tweet and try again if there's an error. Relatable!
The company tweeted from its official Twitter account on Friday — April Fool's Day — that it was toying with the long-requested tool. But it seemed too good to be true, and Twitter just couldn't stop joking about it, so how were we supposed to believe it? When Reuters asked Twitter to clarify whether it was a joke, the company responded: "We cannot confirm or deny but we may edit our statement later." The bit continued on Monday, when Elon Musk polled his followers about whether Twitter should add an edit button, and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal weighed in too.
Sullivan said Twitter's work on the edit button is anything but a joke, and the platform is weighing rules like time limits and controls to ensure an edit button wouldn't "alter the record of the public conversation." Adding an edit tool has also been a controversial topic among Twitter employees, and former CEO Jack Dorsey has in the past said "we'll probably never do it."
Right now, the closest thing to an edit button is the undo feature, but it's limited to Twitter Blue subscribers, who pay for extra Twitter perks. Twitter is testing the edit button for Twitter Blue subscribers as well, but it's unclear if a widely rolled out editing tool would be available to only those subscribers or to everyone. Sullivan said an edit button is one feature Twitter is looking into to give users "more choice and control" on the platform.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE