Blocking someone on X will soon do less to protect your posts.
Currently, when you block someone on X, the social media platform displays a “You’re blocked” message and prevents the blocked user from seeing your replies, media, followers and follower list. That will soon all change, as Elon Musk, owner of X, said changes to the block function will now let blocked users see your posts, but not engage with it.
“High time this happened,” Musk posted yesterday.
The block button is used widely, often to block trolls and stop harassment online. Many domestic violence centres recommend people who are victims of abuse to block their stalkers and abusers online.
Musk, since his purchase and rebranding of Twitter in 2022, has been vocal about waging a war on the block button.
In August 2023, he said blocking as a feature was going to be deleted, “except for DMs,” adding in another post that “It makes no sense.”
He’s also clarified that “giant block lists are problematic,” because “they mess up the recommendation system.”
Block buttons are also required by both Google and Apple in order for apps to be placed in their app stores. Google Play developers must provide “an in-app system for blocking” while Apple requires developers to provide “the ability to block abusive users from the service.”
That’s on top of other controversies that have enveloped the social media platform since the Musk acquisition.
“Our research shows that people more likely to experience harassment or hate speech online include people of colour, women and people from the LGBTQ community,” Karim Bardeesy, executive director of The Dias think tank at TMU, explained.
In general, Bardeesy said, Twitter had a fairly strong trust and safety team before Musk’s acquisition. With the transformation to X, Musk allowed the return of controversial figures that had previously been deplatformed.
So what can users do? One way to get around the loosened blocking tool is to leave X entirely — several companies have attempted to compete with X including Mastodon, Blue Sky and Threads. Policymakers can also take action, Bardeesy said, as the federal government has with its Online Harms Act, which is still making its way through the legislative process.
Lastly, Bardeesy added, users can refrain from engaging with toxic posts, which get amplified through engagement. Instead, he recommends creating communities that “are as welcoming as possible.”
However, for cases of harassment of abuse, Bardeesy said that’s up to law enforcement.
“Musk has already made it pretty clear that he’s going in a particular direction with the platform, towards welcoming more extreme voices and gutting or substantially defunding the trust and safety teams,” he said. “This is one more example of the risk to putting these platforms in the hands of single powerful individuals who don’t have accountability.”
