Top line
X will soon roll out a controversial change to its blocking function by allowing accounts to continue viewing posts from users who have blocked them, another update to the Elon Musk-owned platform formerly known as Twitter that has drawn the ire of its users.
The change will be rolled out to users soon. (Photo by Alain Jocard/AFP)
AFP via Getty Images Key Facts
For those with public accounts, blocking a user will prevent that person from interacting with the blocker’s posts but will not prevent them from viewing the posts, X’s engineering page announced on Wednesday.
Currently, the blocking function prevents users from interacting with and viewing posts of people they have blocked.
With this change, X users can see if those they have blocked are trying to “share and hide harmful or private information” from them, which the platform said allows for “greater transparency.”
The change has been widely criticized, with users’ posts garnering tens of thousands of likes arguing that the blocking feature has become “essentially useless” and that it could empower “stalkers and harassers.”
Some users pointed out vulnerabilities in the upcoming blocking functionality, noting that accounts they’ve blocked can still publicly harass them by taking a screenshot and posting tweets that are still viewable, even if they can’t directly interact with the tweets.
Musk said last month that it was time to introduce change, again sparking negative feedback from users who expressed concerns about the inability to prevent harassment from bad actors.
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Shadow
Musk stopped short of completely removing the blocking feature despite claiming in August that it “will be removed,” adding that the blocking ability “doesn’t make sense” before receiving further criticism from users.
Main critic
Bluesky, a decentralized social media platform that tried to compete with X, used the backlash from the upcoming change to brag about its ban and “anti-poison” features. It has significantly fewer users than X, reporting 10 million users on its platform as of last month.
What is the difference between blocking and muting on X?
While blocking prevents users from liking, replying to, or reposting another user’s posts and prevents the accounts in question from following each other, muting allows users to remove someone else’s posts from their feed without unfollowing or blocking them. Muting does not prevent muted users from sending direct messages or interacting with you (replies and mentions will still appear in the notifications tab), while blocking stops this sharing. Muting is also a bit more discreet, as muted users cannot know that they have been muted, while blocked users can see that they have been blocked by going to the blocker page.
Main background
Musk said banning posts is “illogical” and “should be deprecated in favor of a stronger form of muting.” In general, the blocking feature has long been used on social media to prevent harassment or reduce spam, the latter of which has become a major issue on X. If Musk deletes the blocking feature one day, the change could conflict with the app stores on X. Google and Apple, According to The Verge, they pointed out language in their terminology suggesting that blocking features are necessary for social media platforms. Musk’s block feature change is one of many ways the tech billionaire has transformed the platform since purchasing it for $44 billion two years ago. In addition to changing the network’s name from Twitter to X, Musk introduced a tiered subscription model and eased content moderation on the social network. The previous change received backlash from users who objected to accounts being able to receive blue check marks, which were once a symbol used to differentiate between official, authentic accounts and fake ones, simply by purchasing a premium subscription to X.
Further reading
Musk ends ban feature on X in latest Twitter change (Forbes)
Fidelity (Forbes) says Elon Musk’s X is now worth about a fifth of the $44 billion he paid for it.