It’s fair to say that Elon Musk has made a fair share of controversial decisions since taking over Twitter, such as adding paid subscriptions, banning accounts linking to rival social media platforms and, most obviously, rebranding to X. Now, he’s set to make yet another one by completely removing the block feature.
Blocked accounts are entirely unable to interact with you, including seeing your tweets, messaging you and tagging you in posts. This will no longer be possible with the platform set to become “100% mute only”, according to Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey.
Users will still be able to mute other accounts, removing anything they post or repost from their timeline, but they cannot completely block someone. According to Musk, the block feature “makes no sense” and will be officially removed, although there will be an exception for direct messages. You will still be able to block certain users from sending you messages directly but not completely block their account.
This decision has already faced some backlash, with accounts claiming that the block feature was a way for them to combat bullying and hatred.
However, it could also violate Apple and Google’s app stores’ terms and conditions. Removing the block feature will consequently remove X’s ability to filter and prevent harassment, meaning the app could be seen as failing to comply with the terms and conditions of these stores. This could lead to X being removed from both Apple’s App Store and Google Play, making it no longer downloadable for new users. That could well leave many businesses thinking it could it be time to start looking for an alternative to X?
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