According to a post by X owner Elon Musk on Friday, users of X, formerly known as Twitter, will no longer be able to block comments from unwanted followers, eliminating what’s long been viewed as a key safety feature. Blocking will only be available for direct messages, he said.
Musk wrote Friday: “Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs.” He was responding to a post from the account of Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, asking, “Is there ever a reason to block vs mute someone?” The group behind that account promotes the electric car company, where Musk is CEO.
Since acquiring Twitter last year for $44 billion, Musk has overhauled the company, laying off many employees, reinstating previously banned accounts, and recently rebranding the company and platform as X.
He didn’t provide a reason or a time frame for eliminating the block function, only saying in a follow-up response that “it makes no sense” and that the mute function will still be available.
Users have been able to use the block function to make sure that hateful content and harassment don’t show up in their feeds in response to their posts. The mute feature just keeps the individual user from seeing the undesired responses but doesn’t eliminate them from others’ feeds.
Twitter users have also long employed the block feature in boycotts and to avoid seeing ads from specific brands or promoters on the platform.
