Twitter’s new edit button could be used to scam users with links to fraudulent websites.
The social platform’s test for the feature for Twitter Blue users – who pay $4.99 a month – would allow people to have up to 30 minutes to edit tweets.
However, several experts have said that because certain types of tweets can spread so quickly, the long-requested feature could be used for malicious acts.
“It’s true: Edit Tweet is being tested internally by our team,” the company said in a statement blog entry. ‘The test will then be rolled out initially to Twitter Blue subscribers over the coming weeks.’
Twitter’s new edit button could be used to scam users with links to fraudulent websites, some experts fear after the new feature was announced this week
“It’s true: Edit Tweet is being tested internally by our team,” the company said in a blog post. “The test will then be rolled out initially to Twitter Blue subscribers over the coming weeks”
SocialProof Security CEO and ethical hacker Rachel Tobac shared what she thinks could go wrong with the new feature.
“Someone will tweet something saying, ‘These two celebrities just started dating,'” she told the Washington Post. “It’s going viral. Fifteen to 20 minutes later they walk in and change that to a crypto scam, phishing link, voting disinformation.”
This is very problematic for Twitter, where the speed of going viral is much higher than, for example, on Facebook.
In April 2013, a hacker managed to send a fake Associated Press tweet saying that President Barack Obama was injured in an explosion at the White House. The tweet immediately sparked more than 4,000 retweets and sent the S&P 500 down 0.9% — wiping out $130 billion in stock value in seconds.
“Someone is going to tweet something that says, ‘These two celebrities just started dating,'” Rachel Tobac told the Washington Post. “It’s going viral. Fifteen to 20 minutes later they walk in and change that to a crypto scam, phishing link, voting disinformation.
“Like any new feature, we’re intentionally testing Edit Tweet with a smaller group to help us integrate feedback while identifying and resolving potential issues,” Twitter said. “This includes how people might abuse the feature. You can never be too careful’
Tobac said that while the feature could have benefits, she believes it will also help spread false information.
Evan Greer, director of digital rights organization Fight for the Future, said she’s taking a more wait-and-see attitude.
“There are always tradeoffs when making changes to content moderation systems across major technology platforms,” Greer told DailyMail.com. “Twitter should take steps to prevent this new feature from being abused.
“But that’s also ultimately why we need lawmakers to pass antitrust laws pp. 2992 and pp. 2710, which crack down on big tech’s monopoly power so people can make meaningful decisions when the ‘Edit ‘ of Twitter is becoming a disaster and can find another social media platform that suits their needs.’
Alex Stamos, former Facebook chief security officer and director of Stanford’s Internet Observatory, explained in a tweet thread how the Twitter editing tool could easily be used by cryptocurrency scammers.
“There are always tradeoffs when making changes to content moderation systems across major technology platforms,” Evan Greer told DailyMail.com. “Twitter should take steps to prevent this new feature from being abused”
“A lot of people underestimate the abuse potential of an edit button. I recently looked at a massive cryptocurrency scam that was assisted by automated editing of a verified FB page’s posts to create a legitimate-looking brokerage,” Stamos wrote on Twitter. “The abuse state diagram here is huge.”
Stamos added that the people who crave an edit button the most are a “subset of people who believe trust and security are easy,” and that the problem would be solved if techs were just “more ethical/smart.” would be.
TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling points out that while editing tweets might solve some problems, if people only see the wrong tweet and not the corrected version, they’re likely to believe what they saw first.
Jay Sullivan, Twitter’s general manager of consumer and revenue products, said the company is aware of the potential for bad actors to abuse the feature.
“We’re starting small so we can better understand how edited tweets affect the way people use Twitter,” he wrote on Twitter. “This will help us identify and resolve potential issues, including how people might be abusing this.”
“Like any new feature, we’re intentionally testing Edit Tweet with a smaller group to help us integrate feedback while identifying and resolving potential issues,” Twitter said. “This includes how people might abuse the feature. You can never be too careful.”
On April 1, Twitter tweeted that it was working on an edit button.
A few days later, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is now embroiled in a legal battle with Twitter to reverse his $44 billion purchase of the social network, tweeted a poll asking if users should have a button to wish to edit. The answer was overwhelmingly positive, with a majority of 73.6 percent to 26.4 percent.
Twitter Blue is currently only available in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
