Twitter/X's short-sighted block function update is almost here

Every time it seems like Elon Musk can’t possibly make another Worst Decision, he pops in with his dumb little jump to remind us that actually yeah, he can. His latest folly is purely X interface-related (that company name coming approximately 1,000 bad decisions ago), which is a slight relief amongst the onslaught of brain-melting election content and creepy robots no one asked for. 

Last month, Musk confirmed that changes were coming to X’s block feature, a previously simple and obvious function of any social media website meant to protect users and prevent harassment. Now, those benefits are largely being thrown out the window because the man in charge can’t stand the thought of people talking about him behind his back. Starting “soon,” accounts you’ve blocked will still be able to see all of your posts if your account is set to public, but won’t be able to interact with them in any way. (Previously, blocking an account would hide your posts from that user as well.) “High time this happened,” Musk wrote in his original post. 

To further clarify the policy today, X’s official engineering account added, “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.”

In the rare occasion that someone blocks someone else just to gossip about them, sure—this may be helpful for the gossip-ee. (Although this writer isn’t sure if seeing negative things written about you and not being able to do anything about them is necessarily better than not seeing them at all.) In cases where block was being used to prevent harassment, stalking, and other dangerous and illegal behaviors, this isn’t great news. Yes, you can still obscure your tweets by going totally private, but some people—celebrities, journalists, influencers etc.—still need the platform for their livelihood. Hiding isn’t always so easy, especially when we already had a perfectly good solution. 

What’s especially ironic about all of this is the fact that account suspensions have increased by 307% (307!) under Musk. Seems like a little bit of a “rules for thee, but not for me” situation, doesn’t it?

Soon we’ll be launching a change to how the block function works.

If your posts are set to public, accounts you have blocked will be able to view them, but they will not be able to engage (like, reply, repost, etc.).

— Engineering (@XEng) October 16, 2024