X, formerly known as Twitter, says it has begun rolling out a controversial change to its block function. Now when users block someone else, the blocked user will still be able to visit their profile and see their posts, but won’t be able to interact with them in any direct way.
The change has received a strong negative reaction, with critics saying it will only make it easier for stalkers, abusive ex partners, and others to continue to monitor and prey on their targets. Blocked users could attack their targets by screenshotting their posts and encouraging followers to go after them them.
When X announced the change back in October, it said that it was doing so because some users would block others in order to share harmful information about them without it being noticed by the person they have blocked too quickly. “Today, block can be used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about those they’ve blocked. Users will be able to see if such behavior occurs with this update, allowing for greater transparency.”
X announced on Saturday that the change is now rolling out, and many replies express displeasure, a common reply repeated by many users being that “Nobody asked for this.”
To be fair, when somebody is blocked on X, they can still visit their target’s profile from another account. But it’s an added friction, and this change seems on its surface like it would just make a harasser’s life easier.
Other X changes that initially met resistance have since been accepted, most notably the company’s decision to hide who has liked a post. After X made the change, many noted it made them feel comfortable to like sensitive content free of judgement. High-profile figures have been embarrassed over the years by their like history, such as when it was discovered that Senator Ted Cruz had liked a short clip from a Reality Kings porno called “Dick For Two.” Ironically though, X’s justification that changing the block feature to show content will add more transparency contradicts its move to hide likes for the opposite reason.
Some have pointed out changing the block feature in such a way might violate Apple and Google’s guidelines on social media apps that are available in their respective stores. Apple’s guidelines specifically state that apps must have “the ability to block abusive users from the service.” Apple seems to have a somewhat friendly relationship with X under Elon Musk’s ownership, however; it was early to resume advertising on the platform, for instance.
At this point, it remains to be seen how much impact this change will have on user experience. Competing platforms including Bluesky and Threads, of course, have gained many users since Musk’s takeover, who felt his changes to moderation made it a more toxic place to be in general. Musk has been heavily posting increasingly more right-wing, incendiary content in the run-up to the presidential election. A recent report from Fortune found that his posts appear in users’ feeds within two sessions, whether they try to find his account or not.
In response to X’s October announcement of the block change, Bluesky said that its platform would retain the original block functionality. The startup recently announced it has more than 13 million users, while Meta said in a recent earnings call that Threads has more than 275 million.
At Bluesky, we take online safety seriously.
If you want to block someone, you can! It’s your experience to customize.
In addition, you can also:
+ subscribe to block lists maintained by users you trust
+ detach quote posts
+ morehttps://t.co/x6v5YW0WFT— bluesky (@bluesky) October 16, 2024
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