Elon Musk says he will be removing the block function from X, formerly known as Twitter, in Friday’s episode of the social media platform’s rebrand.
In response to an account asking users to sound off below whether “there ever a reason to block vs mute someone,” Musk claimed that “Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature.’”
The owner of X noted that blocking will soon be obsolete aside from direct messaging within the platform.
The block function “makes no sense,” Musk continued.
In a later post, Musk added that accounts will retain the capability to mute other users and “block users for DMs.”
There is a difference between the mute and block features. While blocking restricts specific accounts from contact, tweet view, and removes following, mute only removes the user’s posts from your timeline. Muting does not unfollow the account or prevent the user from contacting or viewing a public profile.
However, with Musk you never really know what is true and what is bluster. Last week, the billionaire claimed he would be showing up at Zuckerberg’s Palo Alto home on Monday for a practice bout of the headline-dominating cage match between the moguls. That, of course, didn’t happen after a spokesperson for Zuckerberg noted that he wouldn’t even be home.
In her first interview since being appointed X CEO, Linda Yaccarino told CNBC last week that her job at the social media company is separate from Musk’s and she has “autonomy” in her new role.
“It’s been eight incredibly supportive weeks,” the former NBCUniversal advertising head noted.
The X CEO compared her partnership with Musk to a “relay race,” in which Musk “works on the technology and dreams of what’s next.” Yaccarino, on the other hand, brings new features “to market for economic prosperity.”
Yaccarino also claimed that “by all objective metrics, X is a much healthier and safer platform than it was a year ago.”
Last week, X released expanded capabilities for brand safety with advertisers in mind, who they have struggled to gain back since Musk’s takeover and subsequent changes to the platform.
Included in the advertising feature expansion, X noted an “automated industry-standard blocklist,” to prevent brands’ advertisements from appearing next to inappropriate or harmful content.
Meanwhile, X Corp. has sued the hate-speech-tracking nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate over claims their research was an intentional play to damage the platform’s advertising business.
