How Twitter’s edit button could change the calculus in Washington

But the change could create new problems around disinformation and scams driven by edited tweets, said Rachel Tobac, a cybersecurity expert and CEO of SocialProof Security. She worried nefarious actors could hijack accounts and change viral tweets about unrelated topics to promote phishing links, cryptocurrency scams or election-related disinformation.

“On Twitter, I just don’t know that it’s possible to do it safely,” Tobac said of an edit button. “I do not think that the benefits outweigh the potential harm — disinformation, scamming and potential disenfranchising of voters on election day.”

Twitter says potential security issues are top-of-mind. In a blog post, the company emphasized that the edit button is still being tested before it’s rolled out to Twitter Blue subscribers in the coming weeks (subscribers in New Zealand will get the first crack at it, according to Twitter spokesperson Layal Brown, with U.S., Australian and Canadian users to follow later). The delay is partially meant to give company moderators time to explore “how people might misuse the feature.”