These days, it’s all about inclusivity. Particularly, Elon Musk isn’t keen on locking anyone out of X unless it suits his reasoning — even if they make you uncomfortable. He’s changing how blocking works.
Instead of fully restricting blocked users, they’ll now be able to see public posts from accounts that blocked them. They still can’t interact with the account. Musk’s reasoning? This prevents a false sense of privacy since they could bypass blocks by switching accounts anyway.
Is it really transparency or spelling trouble for user privacy?
Back in the days of Twitter, blocking someone meant that they could no longer see your posts, interact with your account (such as liking, replying, or retweeting), and vice versa. They also can’t view your profile or send direct messages, among other features. They will see a short, yet slightly hurtful, message on your profile telling them that you’ve blocked them.
Now, it’s different with Musk’s upcoming update. When you block someone, they still see your posts anywhere, as long as your account is set to public. They just can’t interact with it.
Although Musk says it’s to promote transparency, it’s mostly coming from a personal place. Back in June 2023, Musk posted on X that blocking people “makes no sense” and that muting is a better option. He was responding to a post condemning popular civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo for spreading misinformation and blocking people opposing her views from seeing her posts.
But people like Alejandra aren’t the only ones using social media, are they? Scores of users have positively benefited from the block feature, which puts a barrier between them and their abusers or stalkers. This factor should be heavily considered before a large-scale update like Musk’s is made.
Blocking should mean blocking. Period.
Many people may prefer the old blocking method, as it creates a clear line of separation between yourself and the specific account. It gives you a sense of control, ensuring people you don’t want in your space cannot follow or monitor your activity. Even though they could still bypass it somehow, it probably gives you mental peace.
Now, there’s just something wrong about letting blocked users view your posts. It almost makes you feel… naked. Like they can still see you, but they can’t touch. You’ll be less expressive and free on the app when you frequently think someone you don’t like is monitoring your account.
It’s a violation in a sense and leaves us with little choice. You’d have to set it to private if you don’t want the wrong audience lurking around your profile. The downside is that it limits your visibility to new followers and can hurt engagement. People must request to follow you, and most won’t bother unless they have a strong reason to connect.
Musk’s update Risks App Store bans
Speaking of violations, Musk’s upcoming change does violate digital store policies and puts X in a delicate position. Apple’s App Store review policy clearly demands features to allow the blocking of abusive users. Meanwhile, Google’s policy is essentially the same. Both platforms may have to remove X from their stores.
Someone on the Apple Developer forum said that the company rejected his app because it didn’t follow the user generated content guidelines. Apple didn’t mention specifically which guideline was not followed, so it’s unclear whether user blocking is a criteria for app removal on the stores.
