Twitter walks back on change that turned deleted tweet embeds into blank boxes

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Aside from working on an edit button, Twitter is reversing a change it quietly made that no longer showed deleted tweets embedded on third-party sites. A company spokesperson told The Verge, "After considering the feedback we heard, we're rolling back this change for now while we explore different options. We appreciate those who shared their points of view—your feedback helps us make Twitter better." Twitter hasn't expounded on what they mean by different options.

According to an earlier statement from Twitter product manager Eleanor Harding, the company tweaked its embedded javascript to "better respect" people who decided to delete their tweets. But the potential issue with this is embedded tweets are typically in news stories to provide context. Many are tweets by known personalities, and these serve as public records of what has been said. And that was the idea Twitter ran with when it intentionally kept the text of deleted tweets. Harding said it planned to roll out additional messaging that explained why a tweet was no longer visible. 

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