Elon Musk teases tweet edit button after buying nearly 10 percent of Twitter shares

"The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully."
"The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully." Photo credit: Getty Images

One of Twitter's most requested features could be a step closer after controversial billionaire Elon Musk purchased nearly 10 percent of shares in the social media company.

It was disclosed earlier on Tuesday, NZ time, that the Tesla CEO had taken a 9.2 percent stake in the platform, making him the largest shareholder.

That pushed the price of shares up by more than 27 percent.

Musk then tweeted to his 80.3 million followers, asking them if they wanted an edit button for their tweets.

While that could normally be seen as an example of the billionaire's bombast, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal then retweeted it, indicating there may be more to it.

"The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully," he wrote.

With more than 1.2 million votes so far, 75 percent of respondents have said they support an edit button, which just days ago appeared to be the butt of an April Fool's joke.

On April 1, Twitter tweeted from its official account saying it was working on an edit feature, but refused to confirm or deny if it was a joke.

"We may edit our statement later," it said.

While an edit button has long been an ask for many users of the social media platform, not everyone welcomed the possible move.

Video podcast host Liz Wheeler pondered the possible consequences of the change.

"Here's my argument against an edit button: What if a tweet goes viral, lots of retweets and millions of impressions, and then the author completely changes the meaning?," she wrote.

"Not just a grammatical fix, but a TOTAL ideological change? Or shameless self-promote?"

Journalist Paula Schmitt called it a "horrible proposition".

"Much of the point of Twitter is to exist as a record, as a means of gauging the evolution of thought, and to take to task those persecuting others for small mistakes. You would be doing away with one of the few tools we have to confront the hypocrites," she wrote.

"We're living a type of tyranny - the tyranny of now - by which even science can unashamedly change more rapidly than fashion.

"If you allow editing, you'd be stripping us from the power to draw comparisons, confront statements, demand that promises be fulfilled. Horrible."

Others thought there were more pressing issues that needed addressing.

"Please get rid of all bots who tap into Twitter's API and automatically respond to all comments from followers with fake Telegram accounts. Please clean up this platform... No more fake/anonymous accounts," one user wrote.

The regulatory filing showed Musk now owns 73.5 million shares, held in a trust called Elon Musk Revocable Trust. 

That could potentially lead to Musk buying the whole company, according to one research analyst.

"Musk's actual investment is a very small percentage of his wealth and an all-out buyout should not be ruled out," research analyst Angelo Zino wrote in a client note.