Elon Musk says he’s open to allowing longer videos and an extended character count on Twitter
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Twitter users have long wanted a larger character count and the ability to post longer videos with their tweets, and Elon Musk, newly in charge of the platform, says they may just get it.
In a tweet late Saturday, the billionaire and self-proclaimed “Chief Twit” said he was open to letting people post longer videos and tweets.
“Can we get rid of character limits, or at least greatly expand it? One of the actual better things about WeChat than Twitter. Would be better for public discourse than short fuses, no?” one Twitter user asked.
In turn, Musk replied, “Absolutely.”
Twitter currently caps tweets at 280 characters.
But it’s not just tweets. Musk also hinted he’d consider extending the length of videos users can post on Twitter.
“Is there a chance of increasing the allowable length of videos so that we can post longer videos? I have parodies I’d love to post,” another Twitter user asked in a separate exchange.
Musk replied with the “100” emoji.
At the moment, videos on Twitter are limited to two minutes and 20 seconds.
Musk previously also suggested several other changes may come to the platform. In March, he polled his followers about whether or not they support making Twitter’s algorithm open source.
“I’m worried about de facto bias in ‘the Twitter algorithm’ having a major effect on public discourse,” Musk tweeted. “How do we know what’s really happening?”
He has also long been a proponent of an edit button. Earlier this year, Twitter started testing giving users the ability to edit their tweets, but Musk may try to accelerate the rollout of such a feature.
Musk has additionally expressed interest in overhauling Twitter Blue, a $5 monthly subscription that gives members access to exclusive features. He’s said members should receive “an authentication checkmark,” not to be confused with the “verified” checkmark that public figures receive, and that they should have to pay for a year upfront, but at a reduced price of $2 per month.
Earlier this week, he tweeted that the company will be forming a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.” He hasn’t yet made any changes to the company’s existing content moderation policies, he noted.