Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, has announced a major change to the way blocking works on the platform. Once the change is implemented, those who you have blocked will be able to see your public posts, but they won’t be able to interact with you.
Traditionally, blocking someone on X means they cannot access your account to see posts or leave comments. However, Musk has never been a fan of this method and is now changing it. He believes that the block function should only block engagement, not the viewing of public posts.
Musk replied to a post from Nima Owji, revealing the news, saying The block function will block that account from engaging with, but not block seeing, public post.
A source from X told The Verge that the reason for the change is that people can already see posts from users who have blocked them by using another account or logging out. Musk has talked about making changes to the block function in the past, saying it needs to be deprecated in favor of a stronger form of mute.
Responses to the news have been almost entirely negative, with several people pointing out that people block accounts for safety and security reasons, especially when it comes to women being harassed by stalkers. It’s not clear when the change will be implemented, though some users say it has already come into effect for them.