Twitter Announces Edit Button – But Will It Lead to More Crypto Scams?

Social media giant Twitter is currently testing tweet editing functionality, raising questions about whether the new feature will improve the platform or open the door to a new wave of problems.

According to Twitter itself, an edit tweet feature is their “most requested feature to date.” Editing tweets will give users a grace period of around 30 minutes from publication to refine their posts, correct typos and other small errors such as missing tags.

There may also be some significant disadvantages to the proposal. Concerns have been raised that an edit tweet button could increase the spread of hoax content on the site.

Trouble brewing for Twitter?

Currently, the feature is unavailable to the public, but industry experts are already speculating about how such a feature could be misused.

Rachel Tobac, an ethical hacker and CEO of SocialProof Securityoffered her thoughts on how unscrupulous users might try to take advantage of the opportunity and edit tweet button can provide.

“Someone will tweet something that says, ‘These two celebrities just started dating,'” she added Washington Post. “It goes viral. Fifteen to 20 minutes later they go in and they change it to a crypto scam, a phishing link, vote disinformation.”

Tobac seems right to have concerns. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission reported that around $1 billion had been lost to crypto fraud this year. Twitter is one of the favorite hunting grounds of bad actors.

Scammers reach their victims through social media such as Twitter, trapping victims by promoting fake gifts or sharing phishing links that can steal user information or even empty their wallets of cryptocurrency.

For their part, Twitter seems keen to quell any such fears before they arise.

“Like all new features, we’re intentionally testing Edit Tweet with a smaller group to help us incorporate feedback as we identify and fix potential issues,” Twitter said in a blog. “This includes how people can abuse the feature. You can never be too careful.”

In this sentiment Tobac seems to agree. In a follow-up tweet, the security expert went on to add that “We don’t need additional disinformation risks ahead of the next election.”

Twitter and Musk are at odds

An edit tweet button was one of the features Elon Musk teased when he promoted his Twitter takeover bid in April.

By July, Musk had already changed his mind about the deal, performing a U-turn on the $44 billion bid. Musk claimed that Twitter had been dishonest about the number of bots and fake users on the platform, but Twitter disagreed.

The two parties now appear to have a court date in the near future to battle it out. For now, it appears Twitter has no plans to create an “Edit Takeover” button for tech billionaires suffering buyer’s remorse.

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