X Moves to the Next Stage of Diluting the Power of Blocking

X is moving closer to removing the block functionality, which it’s been exploring for over a year, ever since platform owner Elon Musk discovered that he’s one of the most blocked people in the app.

Well, that’s speculation, I don’t know if that’s exactly how it happened. But Musk has repeatedly pointed to “giant block lists” as being a problem for the app, while also noting that blocking, in his view at least, is largely useless, because people can just log in via a different account and read your posts anyway.

Which relates to one aspect of blocking, sure, but it doesn’t cover all uses.

In any event, that seems to be what X is going with, based on its latest explanation:

X is also alerting users with this pop-up:

So if you’ve blocked somebody, they’ll still see your updates, which may also be shown to them via the algorithmic “For You” feed. They just won’t be able to interact with your posts.

X has further explained that:

“Today, block can be used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about those they’ve blocked. Users will be able to see if such behavior occurs with this update, allowing for greater transparency.”

So the justification is that if someone blocks you, then talks smack about you, and shares private information about you, knowing that you can’t see it, you’ll now be able to both see and report such, improving privacy.

Which is kind of jilted logic, and overlooks many other use cases of blocking, the basic one being that you may simply not want that person to see your posts anymore. Which is important in cases of harassment and abuse. Sure, that person can just log in under a different account, but social apps (including X) now have IP identifiers and other tools to stop this type of behavior, by blocking other profiles created from the same person or place.

And a lot of people won’t actually bother going to that next step. If someone’s hassling you about your opinions, and you can feel your blood pressure rising as a result, blocking them will often solve the problem, because they’re likely not overly dedicated to stalking and harassing you personally, and won’t bother creating another account for such purpose.

In extreme cases, yes, they may well do that, but it’d be interesting to know what percentage of users actually create new accounts for this purpose.

I’m guessing not a heap, and as noted, X has long had systems in place to tackle this either way.  

But to clarify, the logic of removing blocking as a function is that:

• Blocked users can still see public posts anyway, under a different account
• Blocked users will now be able to see and report abuse by the person who blocked them
• You can still limit who can see your posts by switching to “Protected Posts”, which means only your followers will see them (you’ll receive a request when new people want to follow you, which you can approve or deny).

Look, there is some logic to X’s approach, but again, this reasoning does undervalue the many other ways that people use and rely on blocking as a means of protection.

Indeed, according to both the App Store and Google Play Store rules, all social apps must provide a blocking option, and I’m guessing that it’s taken so long for X to enact this very change because it’s working to ensure that it still meets these requirements.

But again, Elon’s determined that blocking “makes no sense”, so X is pushing ahead with the change, which seems likely to result in a worse outcome overall.

The benefits for X?

Well overriding blocks means that X will then have more content to show users, and will be able to highlight more posts from people who are commonly blocked. Which likely means that more right-wing users, who are the subject of various mass block lists, will get more exposure in the app, while Elon too will be able to get his posts in front of even more people.

And we know that he’s very keen for as many people as possible to see his updates.

The main motivation here does seem to be limiting the impact of block lists, which are restricting the reach of certain users’ posts. But it also wouldn’t be surprising if Elon personally just wants to boost his own stats.

Either way, it seems like a bad move, which the app stores should reject. But as of now, X remains committed to diluting the impact of blocks.

Worth noting that soon, all of the users who you’ve previously blocked will easily be able to access your posts once again.