Elon Musk has announced that the blocking feature for X, formerly Twitter, users will be removed, claiming that the feature “makes no sense.”
However, the X CEO stated that users will still be able to block people from directly messaging them.
However, many people on social media have expressed concern that it will make it difficult for people to remove abusive posts from their timelines.
It is the latest in a series of changes made by Mr. Musk since acquiring the site in a $44 billion deal last year.
Currently, when users “block” an account, the posts from that account are not displayed in the blocker’s timeline, and vice versa.
An account that is blocked can no longer send messages to the blocker, nor can it view their posts.
Former Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, seemed to agree with Mr. Musk’s decision, posting: “100%. Mute only”.
But some concerns muting an account would not be sufficient protection from cases of harassment, abuse, or stalking.
The mute function currently only stops notifications about an account’s posts. An account that is muted can still view the muter’s posts and reply to them.
One user called Mr. Musk’s decision a “huge mistake”, saying there are “toxic people” on the platform whom users simply did not want to interact with in any way.
Removing a blocking feature could also potentially violate the terms and conditions of stores like Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
Both stores have conditions stating that social media apps should allow users facilities to filter harassment or bullying.
It could mean X is no longer downloadable from those stores.
If the policy goes ahead, it is not clear if all those accounts which are blocked will automatically become unblocked.
Users do however have the option to make their account private, hiding their tweets from the public and only allowing accepted followers to view their posts.
