Twitter says it will add edit button ‘when everyone wears a mask’

Users have long been asking the popular social networking site to include the feature

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey said earlier this year that the company would "probably never" introduce edit feature on its platform. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Social networking site Twitter will add the much sought after edit button only “after everyone wears a mask” to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Users have long demanded that the popular social networking site adds the feature to help them edit posts after publication.

“You can have an edit button when everyone wears a mask,” Twitter said on its site late on Thursday. The online platform reiterated this point with a separate tweet that said, “everyone means EVERYONE.”

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey said earlier this year that the company would "probably never" introduce the feature as it may cause users to inadvertently spread misinformation, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Users of Twitter, meanwhile, reacted mostly with amusement at the tease though others called for the social media company to stay off politics and questioned if masks were effective.

“Proceeding to change my legal name to EVERYONE right now,” a user named Paolo Attivissimo said.

“It’s practically impossible to make everyone wear a mask which means we won’t get an edit button,” another user said.

Listed on New York Stock Exchange, Twitter reported 3 per cent increase in revenue in the first quarter to $808 million (Dh2.9 billion) on the back of higher advertising income. The company has more than 35 offices worldwide.

The tweet from the San Francisco-based company on wearing masks comes as coronavirus cases increase in the US. The country registered more than 2.7 million Covid-19 infections to date and more than 128,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the pandemic.

US officials have been asking people to adhere to social distancing norms and wear masks to prevent the spread of the disease. Globally, coronavirus infections have risen to more than 10.8 million.

Twitter recently said it will allow its employees to work from home “forever” to stop the spread of coronavirus pandemic.