A new update to X (formerly Twitter) will make public content available to everyone, even users who have been blocked. The announcement came Monday, and Elon Musk eagerly noted he’s been waiting for this one.
“High time this happened,” the tech mogul said in a reply on the service Monday. “The block function will block that account from engaging with, but not block seeing, public posts.”
The X Help center reflected the change, noting that public posts will be visible to everyone — even the blocked. This could also be an attempt by Musk to increase engagement on the platform while potentially slightly reducing fake accounts.
Musk has been outspoken about his disdain for the block button. In an X reply in June 2023, the billionaire argued that blocking people “makes no sense” and insisted it should be replaced by the mute function. In August 2023, Musk threatened that “block is going to be deleted.”
Despite all of his foreshadowing, users in the SpaceX founder’s reply section Monday did not take the change well.
One user wrote, “we don’t want this,” while others complained there was a reason they didn’t want “creeps” seeing their content.
Even though blocked X users won’t be able to engage with a person’s post, they will now be able to see those posts — making several users feel uncomfortable and vulnerable to further harassment.
In a thread with Musk and Nima Owji, an independent developer and researcher who broke the news, one female user suggested that for people with stalkers, this may put them at higher risk.
Not a good move for females who have stalkers.
— 🎨Paintress April🌸Sunshine Daydream (@PaintressApril) September 23, 2024
Before the change, X displayed a “You’re blocked” message when trying to view the profile of a person who has blocked you (though it was still possible to see public tweets from the person if you were logged out). In addition to blocking the ability to view all posts, it also kept users from viewing their followers and who they were following.
For those who wish to keep their X posts private, they can still do so, but will have to make their entire account private rather than being able to block viewing access for individual users.
