X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, announced the introduction of an updated block feature on Sunday. The decision to revise the blocking mechanism was initially revealed last month. Under the new system, users who have been blocked will still have access to the profiles, posts, followers, and following lists of the individuals who have blocked them. This change has raised significant concerns among users regarding their safety and the increased risk of content theft.
X Begins Rolling Out Updated Block Function
However, X announced a shift in this conventional approach last month. According to the new policy, blocked users will have visibility into the profiles and posts of the users who have blocked them, although they will still be unable to reply, retweet, or like those posts. Direct messaging remains prohibited as well.
The prior policy did not specify access to follower or following lists, but the new guidelines indicate that blocked users can also view these lists, further diminishing the protective measures for users. In an explanation of the change, X’s official Engineering page stated in a post, “Today, block can be used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about those they’ve blocked. Users will be able to see if such behaviour occurs with this update, allowing for greater transparency.”
The response from users regarding this update has been predominantly negative. In reaction to X’s announcement, one user noted, “Those of us who have stalkers on here and content thieves don’t appreciate this change at all and shouldn’t need to lock our accounts to protect ourselves from predatory types.”
Tracy Chou, a developer of the Block Party app designed to facilitate blocking on social media, also voiced her disapproval of the update, emphasizing that “making it easy for a creeper to creep is not a good thing!!”
