Elon Musk has made no secret that he’s of the block button. Now, X is changing how blocks work on its platform, though it’s (for now) stopping short of Musk’s wish of nuking the feature entirely.
Instead, X is tweaking the visibility of replies in the context of a block. Previously, a user could block someone on X and still reply to their posts. And the person who was blocked wouldn’t be able to view that reply or know the person who had blocked them was engaging with their posts. That’s now being rolled back so that users will be able to see direct replies even if the person posting has blocked them. In a post from X’s engineering team, the company said the change is “part of our ongoing commitment to aligning the block feature with our principles as a public town square.”
We are making changes to how block works.
If a user who has blocked you replies to one of your posts, you will now be able to see their reply. This change enables you to identify and report any potential bad content that you previously could not view, safeguarding both your…
— Engineering (@XEng) May 2, 2024
The post also hinted that there may be more changes coming to blocks, which is one of the most widely used safety features on the service. “Our goal is to allow users to control their experience while maintaining the public visibility of posts,” the company said. That would seem to align with previous comments from Musk, who has said on that a public-facing “block” feature “makes no sense” and that “block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature,’ except for DMs.”
For now, the changes to blocking aren’t that drastic. In fact, they may even be welcomed by some users who want more visibility into what people are saying about them on the platform. But the fact that X is starting to change the visibility of previously blocked content could also be a sign of more significant changes to come.