Following the agreed acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, the world is wondering how the platform will change. Media publication Digital Trends have compiled the features that Musk has alluded to being included in the future.

The Edit Button

Debate surrounding the inclusion of an edit button on Twitter has been ongoing for some time now, however Musk has announced that the company will now include an edit button. Following his initial 10% purchase of the social media company, Musk tweeted a poll asking users if they would want an edit button.

However, concerns have been raised regarding argument manipulation and changing context because of edited tweets. As twitter has been edit free since its birth in 2006, the platform acts as a historical narrative of internet history. To preserve this, consumers will only have 30 minutes to edit their tweet after posting, and there will be a displayed edit history.

Looser Content Moderation

With the fast and loose way, he uses Twitter, it comes as no surprise that Musk is looking to reduce moderation on the platform. The suspected changes are likely to align with the new owner’s view of free speech, which he tweeted about, saying he wishes to just abide by what is defined by law. Users however are still concerned by the future of the platform.

DM Encryption

Direct Message encryption is one of the features that Musk seems most adamant and supportive of, after he replied to a Tweet that pointed out Twitter once worked on the feature, and then abandoned it. Musk hopes to implement end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only the intended recipient can access messages.

Broader Authentication

Musk has expressed his desire to “authenticate all real humans”, and eliminate the large number of bots and spam accounts on the platform. While he did not explain how this would work, his expressed interest in it means it is likely to be implemented in the future. This could be done through the use of CAPTCHA, photo verification or other.

Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) pointed out an issue with this though, saying it puts people in at-risk regions in a difficult spot, where they can no longer anonymously express their truth and freedoms without being tracked down and put in danger.