Twitter edit button: Jack Dorsey says users could soon 'clarify' tweets
'There’s no credible way to kind of go back and clarify,' the Twitter boss says
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Your support makes all the difference.Twitter is "thinking about" a new feature that would allow users to add clarifications to old tweets, co-founder Jack Dorsey has revealed.
Despite numerous calls for an edit button, its potential introduction is a contentious issue among the platform's users.
Those against it say it would lead to confusion if a widely shared tweet is later edited to contain contradictory or misleading information.
Speaking at a Goldman Sachs event in San Francisco on Thursday, Mr Dorsey said Twitter is considering a compromise that would allow users to add additional context to a tweet without changing its original content.
"One of the concepts we're thinking about is clarifications," Mr Dorsey said.
"Kind of like a quote retweet, a retweet with comment ... to add some context and some colour on what they might have tweeted or what they might have meant."
Several celebrities have pleaded directly with Mr Dorsey for an edit button feature that would allow them to change the text of the original tweet.
In June 2018, reality TV star Kim Kardashian West claimed to have almost persuaded the Twitter boss, prompting an angry reaction from many Twitter users.
"I had a very good convo with @jack this weekend at Kanye's bday and I think he really heard me out on the edit button," she tweeted.
One of the most liked responses to her tweet came from Twitter user Beau Sloane, who pointed out the flaws of such a feature.
"Guys if we get an edit button on Twitter, it would defeat the entire purpose of the app," he tweeted. "Think about how corrupt it would become! People could change conversations from the past and twist words!"
Mr Dorsey told the Goldman Sachs audience clarifications added to a tweet would appear alongside any further interactions with the original tweet, such as a retweet.
"You wouldn't be able to retweet the original tweet, for instance," he said.
"You would just show the clarification, so it always carries around with it that context. That's one approach. Not saying that we are going to launch that but those are the sorts of questions we are going to ask."
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