Elon Musk: 'The block function will block that account from engaging with, but not block seeing, public post.'
If you’ve blocked certain users from seeing your posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, then you may not like the latest change the social media site is incorporating.
According to The Verge, the feature will change so that the blocked user on X will be able to view the post, but they will not have the ability to respond to it. Elon Musk, the owner of the platform responded to a Tweet after a user mentioned it on X.
The latest “feature” was revealed on Sept. 23 when Nima Owji wrote about it on the platform.
BREAKING: X is about to remove the current block button, meaning that if an account is public, their posts will be visible to the blocked users as well!
Currently, if you are blocked by a user, you will see a message that says, “You’re blocked.” You are unable to view anything associated with the posts, nor can you see their replies, media posted to the account, followers, or who they are following.
Musk has reportedly voiced displeasure with the feature in the past. Techdirt reported last year that Musk responded to a user on the platform who did not like being blocked. He stated that “blocking public posts makes no sense. It needs to be deprecated in favor of a stronger form of mute.”
He is so opposed to the block feature that he previously threatened to disallow people from using it unless it’s for direct messages.
The “workaround” is setting your posts to private. This would allow you to approve any new followers to view your content. Otherwise, anyone who is not following you doesn’t have to be blocked and will not be able to view your posts.
Tech Crunch reported that this had been done more than 10 years ago. In 2013, Twitter allowed blocked users to see content, follow, and reply to the posts of people who blocked them. Although the person who blocked the user wouldn’t know they were able to view their content, other users would know they could. After a backlash from users, Twitter reversed course and changed the protocol to reflect the current policy.
