Musk’s X Will Remove the Ability to Block Accounts – Elon Musk intends to eliminate a crucial feature that individuals have relied on for a while on Twitter to combat harassment: the capacity to block a user’s account. “Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature,’ except for DMs (direct messages),” Musk tweeted on Friday, adding that the option “makes no sense.”
Through the act of blocking an account, one can effectively hinder an individual from becoming a follower of your Twitter account, accessing your posts, perusing your list of followers, or associating you with images. Consequently, this feature holds significant potential to halt instances of harassment on this social media platform.
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However, it appears that Musk holds a different viewpoint on this matter. He has been actively steering the company, now known as X due to a recent rebranding, toward the concept of an open public space that prioritizes unrestricted expression. The removal of the block function signifies that prominent users will no longer have the ability to prevent specific individuals from accessing their accounts, unless those accounts are set to private.
Musk offered no timetable on when the block feature will be removed. But he’s defending his decision by saying he favors the “mute account” function as a replacement. “You will still be able to mute accounts and block users for DMs,” he wrote in response to concerned users.
Indeed, the mute feature operates by automatically excluding someone’s tweets from displaying on your timeline. Furthermore, any responses or references from the muted account will not populate your notifications section. However, it’s important to note that a prospective harasser retains the capability to observe your tweets and craft responses, which would remain visible to the general audience.
It’s why some critics are blasting Musk for wanting to remove the feature, saying it’ll only open the floodgates for more online abuse. “You know what Nazis used to do in my Twitter replies, before I started using mass block tools? They’d give my home address out to OTHER Nazis in my replies who had expressed an interest in murdering my family and me,” tweeted Philadelphia activist and writer Gwen Snyder.
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At the same time, there are individuals who hold reservations about Musk’s ability to eliminate the account-blocking functionality, asserting that such a move might potentially run afoul of the privacy regulations that the company has committed to adhering to in both the United States and the European Union. Additionally, a guideline present on Apple’s App Store stipulates that a platform like X must incorporate the capability to prevent abusive users from accessing the service in order to be eligible for listing.