In a move that will probably break the internet for the second day in a row, Tesla CEO and Twitter majority shareholder Elon Musk has uttered the words guaranteed to evoke strong emotions across the blue bird app: “edit button.”
On Monday night, Musk asked his more than 80 million followers if they wanted an edit button and started a poll to gather responses. While the action seems innocuous, the tech mogul is known to use polls to guide or foreshadow some of his major decisions. Considering the revelation earlier on Monday that Musk had bought a huge stake, or 9.2%, in Twitter last month, becoming the company’s largest shareholder, it’s clear that he can have a say in the social network. Yet, whether he plans to demand change or not is still unknown.
At the time of publication of this article, more than 2.8 million votes had been cast in the poll, with 73.4% voting “yes” and 26.6% voting “no.” Given that the poll will be up for 12 more hours, these initial results are far from certain.
Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
Besides tweeting out the poll, typos and all, Musk hasn’t said much more about the edit button, a feature that has been coveted by some Twitter users for years. In response to a tweet, naturally, from popular space YouTuber Everyday Astronaut, Musk did acknowledge the potential issues with rolling out an edit button. The YouTuber, whose real name is Tim Dodd, told Musk that he did want an edit button, but only 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,” Dodd wrote.
That sounds reasonable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
Musk said that Dodd’s request sounded reasonable. In another reply, where a user asked him to do something about crypto spam bots, the tech CEO called them “single most annoying problem on twitter imo,” appearing open to address the issue.
Over at Twitter, the higher-ups were definitely paying attention to Musk’s tweets, though it’s not really clear whether they were taking him seriously or making fun of him. Less than an hour after Musk posted his poll on the edit button, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal responded with the same text Musk used late last month when he asked users (in another poll) whether the social platform rigorously adhered to free speech.
“The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully,” Agrawal tweeted on Monday.
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
Twitter product lead Michael Sayman also responded to Musk and pointed him to the company’s tweet on April 1, which said: “we are working on an edit button.” Sayman called the tweet the “official statement” on the matter, but considering the tweet was posted on April Fool’s Day, we have our doubts.
Gizmodo reached out to Twitter on Tuesday morning for official comment on whether the company was working on an edit button but did not receive a response by the time of publication.