Elon Musk Says X Users Will Lose Block Function

According to owner Elon Musk, social media platform X (formerly Twitter) will no longer allow users to block unwanted accounts.

“Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs [direct messages],” he said in a post on the platform, without specifying when the change will go into effect.

The block function is a key safety feature. Users rely on this function to protect themselves from bullying and spam, as well as to boycott individuals and advertising from certain brands. Disabling the feature means that users will lose the ability to control who can follow them and interact with their content.

The mute feature, which allows users to keep undesired content away from their feeds, will still be available on X. Still, it exposes users’ content to other feeds, making it impossible to eliminate interactions with unwanted accounts.

Anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky, argued about the negative effects this change could bring. Lewinsky publicly asked Musk and X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino to “rethink removing the block feature,” to which Yaccarino replied, “Our users’ safety on X is our number one priority. And we’re building something better than the current state of block and mute.” Yaccarino did not give details on what those features could be.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who supported Musk’s Twitter buyout with a $500 million investment, didn’t seem to agree with Musk’s decision. “X should really solve the bots & spam problems before removing blocks. Just my 0.02,” he wrote on X.

Musk, who describes himself as a free-speech absolutist, has been recently under fire for not doing enough to control toxic content on X. The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit that monitors hate speech, claims that ”hate and disinformation is spreading like wildfire on the platform under Musk’s ownership.” Musk filed suit against the non-profit, calling their claims “baseless.”

The App Store and Google Play demand each app on their platforms to provide an in-app feature for blocking content and users. The tech giants have yet to clarify whether eliminating the block function will result in X.com’s removal from their app stores.

Elon Musk introduced a series of changes since he bought Twitter last year for $44 billion. Recently, the tech mogul rebranded Twitter to X.com, banishing the famous blue bird to the annals of history.