UPDATE, 4:09PM, CST: a Community Note added to Musk’s announcement says Musk “cannot” eliminate the block feature, as it is a mandatory condition of social networks being allowed on both Apple and Google’s app stores. Musk has not yet said whether this news changes his plans.
(LifeSiteNews) — The social network formerly known as Twitter has instituted multiple changes long championed by conservatives since being taken over by iconoclastic tech mogul Elon Musk, but a newly announced decision has received an overwhelmingly hostile reception: eliminating users’ ability to block certain accounts from replying.
Musk announced Friday that Twitter, recently rebranded as X, will be removing the “block” feature for public interactions with other accounts, claiming it “makes no sense,” while continuing to allow users to block unwanted people from sending private Direct Messages (DMs):
It makes no sense
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023
The news met a swift backlash, as blocking has conventionally been social media users’ most effective tool to stop strangers from bombarding their posts with all manner of unwanted content. Musk suggested blocking DMs and muting unwanted replies, which stops the muter from seeing them but allows them to continue replying as much as they want, with whatever they post visible to the muter’s followers.
Mute
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023
You will still be able to mute accounts and block users for DMs
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023
Many who saw the news argued that while the change will likely be a boon to advertisers, the effects are overwhelmingly likely to be negative for everyone else, who rely on blocking to keep their online experience free from rude behavior, bot accounts, threats, fringe material, obscene content, stalking, and harassment.
In theory, content moderation is supposed to remove content that violates the site’s rules. But with hundreds of millions of users, it is not possible for staffers or algorithms to catch everything that might warrant removal in a timely manner (or necessarily at all), and without blocking users cannot control being subjected to content that is unwanted but technically not in violation.
Another benefit of blocking is it's a clear signal to let someone know their behaviour has crossed a line.
When we talk to people about why they don't use X, harassment/trolls are one of the biggest reasons. Making the tools we have less effective is not a good direction IMO.
— X News Daily (@xDaily) August 18, 2023
I don’t want to live in yours. I don’t think I should have to see death threats, rape threats, name calling, incessant lies etc… in my timeline and my readers shouldn’t be forced to read through them and idiotic porn-bots. Helps keep the discussions honest and productive.
— Chris Loesch 𝕏 (@ChrisLoesch) August 18, 2023
Muting doesn’t stop people from commenting so others on your thread can see it. I don’t want pornographers spamming my comments, for example, even if I cant see them. https://t.co/LJzfmLI3UB
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 18, 2023
As you can remember by reading my timeline , my psycho stalker created more than 70 accts to stalk me , @ScotsFyre and @PolitiBunny . Blocking doesn’t work because they will find a way. My pinned tweet is where I added
Every acct she created . They can still say what they want…— Diane B (@dmb1031) August 18, 2023
I have 1700 followers and I’ve blocked over a hundred crypto scam bots. I can’t imagine how bad larger accounts are- much less the super big 1Mil+ accounts are.
— Jesse James (@skydiveicarus) August 18, 2023
Don't agree it's good for creators, many would just end up turning off replies completely and treating this site like an RSS feed, I know I would
— Me, Safety Guru?? 😬 (Plan C) (@MINT_Crypto) August 18, 2023
Well, they kinda know which tweets are ads, so it seems it would be easier to just not allow blocks on ads. They have other ways of dealing with that.
— Jonathan Schafer (@jschaf01) August 18, 2023
Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022 and set to work making it more open and politically neutral. To that end, he has instituted a number of reforms to the platform and other actions that have overjoyed conservatives, such as replacing fact-checkers with a far more accurate, user-driven Community Notes feature, releasing troves of information about the previous management’s censorship activities, reversing the old Twitter’s classification of “deadnaming” as bannable “hate speech,” and reinstating numerous high-profile accounts banned by the old regime.
However, there have also been some setbacks and causes for concern as to how thoroughly the platform will change, such as Musk hiring former World Economic Forum executive chair Linda Yaccarino to take over day-to-day business operations as CEO and giving lip service to the notion that “outrageous” content should be subject to reduced “freedom of reach.”