X’s block feature as we know it is about to be no more, CEO Elon Musk stated Monday on the social media site.
Musk confirmed the change in a reply to Nima Owji, a web developer who first reported the news.
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Since its inception, the block feature on Twitter, X’s former moniker, allowed users to prevent individuals from viewing or engaging with their public posts. With the change, blocked accounts will be able to view the blocker’s posts once again, but cannot engage with the content via likes, replies, reposts, or direct messages. Musk actually threatened last year to kill all features of the block, save for a blocked user being able to DM the blocker.
Even though Musk’s change isn’t as extreme as his previous announcement, Monday’s news is alarming to many who have faced harassment or stalking on X. Though the updated block feature prevents potential bad actors from causing trouble on X, anyone will soon be able to easily view information on the site and utilize it offline or via another site. Someone can now easily screen-capture a post on X from an account that previously blocked them, for instance, and repost it on Threads, Facebook, or Instagram; they can also screen cap that X post and post it on their own X account.
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Some on X responded positively to the news, calling the current block function toothless. Owji, the web developer who reported the news, claimed anyone could circumvent the feature with alt accounts, while others pointed out that blocked users could view public posts in their browser’s incognito mode.
Whatever Musk’s motivation for the change — some posited it was Musk’s furtive method to amp up engagement and impressions for his ailing company, or tied to the upcoming presidential election, of which the CEO has a clear favorite — it may run into some roadblocks. The biggest hurdle for X is that Google and Apple require block features for social media apps available on their app stores — and there is already an effort afoot to push Google and Apple to block X downloads if blocking goes away.
