X App Announces Controversial Changes to Blocking Feature

X, formerly Twitter, is set to implement significant changes to its blocking feature, following through on Elon Musk’s earlier announcements. According to X’s engineering team, users will still be able to block others from liking, replying, or reposting their content, but blocked users will now still be able to view public posts. However, Musk clarified that blocking will still impact DMs in the same way as it used to.

This tweak to such a long-standing feature has sparked mixed reactions. Critics argue that it removes a vital privacy tool and could lead to increased online harassment. Many users view blocking as an essential way to control their experience on the platform, and they fear the new system will reduce their ability to manage who views their content – while users could still technically get around blocks by making new accounts, there is now no need to even do that.

Musk, a proponent of free speech, has positioned this change as a step toward greater openness on the platform. However, users argue that this may be against the requirements of both the App Store and Play Store – at the very least, Apple requires apps with user-generated content to have some kind of block feature, a detail that was brought up regularly when the removal of blocking was originally pitched back in 2023.

Regardless of your thoughts on the change, it’s undeniable that X’s recent changes have stirred up a lot of controversy about the platform – and have driven users away on more than one occasion. Time will tell if the change is received well in the long-term, mostly ignored, or contributes to another exodus of users. Bluesky’s X account quote-tweeted the announcement with an obvious hint for users to switch platforms, so it at least stokes the flames of the platforms’ silent rivalry.