UX Says It Has Started Rolling Out a Controversial Change to Blocking Work
IX, formerly known as Twitter, says it has begun rolling out a controversial change to its blocking service. Now if users block someone, the blocked user will still be able to visit their profile and see their posts, but they won’t be able to interact with them in any direct way.
The change has received a negative response, with critics saying it will only make it easier for stalkers, former abusive partners, and others to continue to monitor and catch their victims. Block users can attack their targets by capturing their posts and encouraging followers to follow them.
When X announced this change in October, it said it was doing so because some users would block others to share dangerous information about themselves without being seen by the person they blocked immediately. “Today, blocking can be used by users to share and hide dangerous or private information about those they have blocked. Users will be able to see if such behavior occurs with this update, which allows for greater transparency.“
UX announced on Saturday that the change was rolling out, and many responses expressed displeasure, with a common response echoed by many users being “No one asked for this.”
To be fair, if someone is blocked on X, you can still visit the target’s profile on another account. But it is more of a conflict and this change seems to make life easier for the abuser.
Other X changes have met with opposition since they were adopted, notably the company’s decision to hide who liked a post. After X made this change, many noticed that it made them feel free to like sensitive content without judgment. High-profile figures have been shamed over the years for similar histories, such as when it was discovered that Senator Ted Cruz had liked a short clip of Reality Kings porn called “Dick For Two.” Ironically, X’s reason for changing the block feature to the exhibition the content will add more clarity against its move to hide preferences for the opposite reason.
Some have pointed out that changing the block feature in such a way could violate Apple and Google’s guidelines for social media apps available in their stores. Apple’s guidelines specifically state that apps must have “the ability to block abusive users from the service.” Apple seems to have a friendly relationship with X under Elon Musk’s ownership though; it was too early to resume advertising on the platform, for example.
At this point, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this change will have on the user experience on X. Competing platforms including Bluesky and Threads, of course, have gained more users since Musk’s takeover, which felt his changes in moderation did. a very toxic place to be in general. Musk has been posting a lot of right-wing, shilling content before the presidential election. The latest report from Good luck found that his posts appear in users’ feeds within two periods, whether they try to access his account or not.
In response to X’s October announcement of a block change, Bluesky said its platform would retain the functionality of the original block. The startup recently announced that it has more than 13 million users, and Meta said in a recent earnings call that Threads has more than 275 million users.
At Bluesky, we take online security very seriously.
If you want to block someone, you can! It’s your experience to customize.
In addition, you can also:
+ subscribe to the block list maintained by trusted users
+ remove quotes from posts
+ more— bluesky (@bluesky) October 16, 2024