A hot potato: The block function on X has now joined the long list of things that have changed since Elon Musk took over and killed Twitter. Now, blocking someone won’t prevent them from seeing your public posts. All it does is stop them from interacting with you.
It was revealed last month that X was making a major change to the block button. No longer would it perform the traditional function of stopping someone accessing your posts, leaving comments, and so on. Instead, it would just stop people from liking, replying to, and reposting content, which they can still see, essentially making it more of a mute button.
Now, X’s engineering team says it has started to roll out the change to the platform’s block function. Instead of blocked users seeing a “You’re blocked” message on accounts, they now see a message stating “you can view public posts from [the account that blocked you], but you are blocked from engaging with them. You also cannot follow or message [the account that blocked you].”
We’re starting to launch the block function update
– Engineering (@XEng) November 3, 2024
Musk has long complained about the block function, saying it makes no sense and needs to be replaced in favor of a stronger form of mute. He’s even called for the block button to be removed altogether, except when used for direct messages.
X says the reason it is changing the block button is because its functionality could previously be used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about people they’ve blocked. It also said that blocked users can already see and interact with accounts that have blocked them by switching to a non-blocked account. The company claimed the move was part of its commitment to “aligning the block feature with our principles as a public town square.”
Responses to the news have been almost entirely negative. Several people have pointed out that people block accounts for safety and security reasons, especially when it comes to women being harassed by stalkers and trolls. The fact that someone who is blocked can still see what you post, take a screenshot, and post it themselves is particularly concerning.
There are questions over whether the change violates iOS and Google Play store rules. Apple states in its developer terms of service that apps containing user-generated content must offer the ability to block abusive users from the service. Google, meanwhile, says that apps allowing “interaction with specific users (for example, direct messaging, tagging, mentioning, etc.) must provide an in-app functionality for blocking users.”