Since Elon Musk took ownership, X (formerly Twitter) has changed in several major ways. And now, another change is coming… the way the Block function works. This change has been teased for some time, but it now appears to be imminent.
The Change to How X Blocking Works Is Imminent
The first change in the way blocking works on X came in May 2024, when users who were blocked by someone were able to see when they replied to their posts. Then, in September, Musk himself stated that the block function was changing again.
This time, the change was more extreme, with the very meaning of the term changing. Previously, blocking someone meant that they could no longer see your tweets. But now, blocking will only prevent them from engaging, but not from viewing.
This effectively means that someone harassing you will continue to be able to view everything you post on X. They just won’t be able to engage with your output, by liking, replying, or reposting it.
Judging by the above post by the X engineering team, the change to the way the Block function works is imminent. And once the change happens, anyone you have previously blocked will be able to see your posts.
If you don’t want this to happen, the only option left is to protect your posts. This means that only people following you on X can see your posts, and you’ll be able to deny permission for anyone trying to follow you.
Good News for Some, Terrible News for Others
This is obviously good news for some people; anyone who has been blocked by people whose posts they want to continue seeing. But for anyone who has been subjected to harassment or abuse on the platform, and blocked people to make it stop, this is terrible news.
To be fair, X’s block function wasn’t perfect anyway. If you weren’t signed in, you could still see posts on the web from people who had blocked you. And if you really wanted to circumvent blocks, you could simply set up a second account that hadn’t been blocked.
However, this still feels like a bad move, even though Musk and his engineering team claim it’s all about “transparency”.
