Just when you thought that the world of X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, couldn’t get any stranger — owner Elon Musk just announced that the block feature is going away.
In a reply to a post asking the difference between a block and a mute, Musk said that he intends to remove the block feature, although it will remain for direct messages.
Predictably, the replies to the post announcing the news are full of people suggesting that might not be such a great idea.
‘It makes no sense’
Musk made the revelation before adding that the block feature “makes no sense.”
Quite what he means by that isn’t clear, because while muting does, of course, stop users from seeing posts from others they don’t want to see, that only works one way. If blocking is removed, there will no longer be a way to prevent other people from seeing your posts anymore.
Musk hasn’t said when the block feature will be removed, and it’s possible that he could change his mind before it actually happens. On a positive note, it’s at least good to know that the ability to block direct messages will still remain — although that will be of little relief to those who don’t want abusive exes and others to see their posts anymore and will have to make their accounts private to do so.
Some have suggested that Musk should put the ability to block accounts behind his X Premium subscription service, something that could help drive revenue in a way few other features have managed to.
We’re not sure that putting privacy features behind a paywall is the way to go, but it’s impossible to second-guess what will happen at X these days.
For now, we wait and see whether this is one of those things that Musk intends to actually do or if it popped into his head moments before sending making that post.
