A WILDLY popular social media platform is unveiling a way to edit direct messages – with some limits.
Elon Musk‘s takeover of Twitter, rebranded as X, is among the most contentious in history.
The billionaire removed popular features like Circles – which allowed users to share posts with a limited audience – and reinstated others that users hated, such as the paid blue checkmark.
Now, it seems the platform is listening to its users and implementing change for their benefit.
Users on X will be able to edit direct messages after they’ve been sent, per an announcement from lead engineer Mike Anderson.
On August 31, Anderson tweeted a screengrab of a text conversation with a speech bubble reading “DM edit just launched on iOS!”
While the feature’s specifications remain under wraps, we know users will be able to edit messages without time limits.
However, there are drawbacks.
Users are only allowed up to five edits per message, and images and encrypted messages aren’t included.
Moreover, the feature is only available on iOS, so Android users must wait an undetermined amount of time to get their hands on it.
The latest change may help Musk win the favor of users in the face of ongoing legal woes.
The technocrat was recently accused of creating a political action committee called American PAC to undercut the democratic process in the 2024 presidential election.
The PAC allegedly ran ads on X that promised to register voters but actually harvested the information of users in swing states.
This triggered an investigation by the Michigan Secretary of State, with other states expected to follow suit.
And Musk has found a new enemy: the entire state of Brazil.
After a month-long feud between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, Brazilian ISPs have started blocking access to the platform.
Justice Alexandre De Moraes court-ordered the technocrat to ban seven accounts accused of peddling misinformation and extremist politics, but Musk did not comply.
It is unclear whether this will be the final nail in the coffin for X, amid Musk’s continuous gripes about advertisers fleeing the platform.
Several companies have expressed trepidation about advertising next to hate speech content, while Musk himself has faced criticism for tweeting in support of conspiracy theories and other offensive topics.
The social media network’s value has cratered since coming under his control in 2022.
Fidelity, a leading financial services company, now values Musk and his partners’ stake at around 72% lower than at the time of the acquisition.
The valuation has dropped from around $316 million to a dismal $88 million.
Elon Musk bought the social media app citing altruistic reasonings for his aquisition.
April 2022: Negotiations for Musk to purchase Twitter began.
October 27, 2022: Musk finalized his purchase of X and began his rebranding efforts.
November 1, 2022: Twitter boars is dissolved, making Musk the “sole director” of the site.
July 23, 2023: Musk announces icon rebranding and X users point out the switch. “And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he wrote.
July 24, 2023: Musk revealed the reason for the rebranding. “The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth – like birds tweeting – but now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video,” he said.
