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Twitter is testing an edit button, the company announced on Tuesday.
The feature has been one of the most requested changes to the social networking service for over a decade. Currently, to correct a typo in a tweet, users must delete it and resend the tweet, which may limit the number of people who see it.
“Editing has been the most requested Twitter feature for many years. People want to be able to fix (sometimes embarrassing) mistakes, typos and hot takes instantly,” tweeted Jay Sullivan, vice president of consumer product at Twitter.
The move comes on the same day that Twitter announced that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, will join the company’s board of directors. On Monday, after his 9.2% stake in Twitter was revealed through a regulatory filing, Musk tweeted a poll to his followers asking if Twitter should add an edit button.
This message was retweeted by Parag Agrawalthe current CEO of Twitter, who added, “The ramifications of this poll will be important.”
In 2020, Twitter co-founder and then-CEO Jack Dorsey said the company would “probably never” add an edit button to its service.
In Tuesday’s announcement, Sullivan highlighted the potential of the edit button to increase the amount of misleading content on Twitter.
“Protecting the integrity of this public conversation is our top priority as we approach this work,” Sullivan tweeted. “As such, it will take some time and we will be actively seeking input and contra-thinking before launching Edit.”
Subscribers to Twitter Blue, a $3-a-month subscription, currently have access to a feature that gives users a few seconds to correct a tweet before it is sent publicly.
Twitter shares closed down more than 2% on Tuesday, making it one of the best-performing tech stocks. The move caps a 27% jump Monday after Musk’s stock purchase was announced.