Why changes to the block in Elon Musk’s X are driving users away

Elon Musk’s IX plans to change the way blockchain works, breaking the standards of other social media apps. If blocking policies change, people blocked by someone will still be able to see that person’s posts, as long as they are public. They simply cannot like, repost, or reply to this post.

“Blocking social posts doesn’t make sense,” Musk told X last year. “It has to be lowered to select a strong dumb type.”

Jack Dorsey, the former founder and CEO of Twitter, agreed with this view. In a sense, Dorsey and Musk have a point. On most social networks, if someone blocks you, you can still access their public posts — you just have to log out of your account. But Tracy Chou, founder of the anti-bullying tool Block Party, argues that this additional conflict is important.

Chou wrote on X, “I’m sure someone from twitter (elon) is arguing that block evasion was always happening on other accounts but the point is that the conflict is important!! making it easy for the creeper to crawl is not a good thing!” !”

Many X users agreed with Chou, generating more interest on other platforms. Bluesky, a Twitter alternative, added another 1.2 million users in the past two days, as users sought another X. In the US App Store top charts, Bluesky climbed to No. 2 in the Social Networking category, from No. . 181 the previous day.

These growth spurts don’t always translate into long-term use. But, unlike the platform’s other updates — like its name change from Twitter to X — this policy change isn’t just symbolic. It is a measure that prioritizes the experience of the people being prevented, rather than those doing the preventing, who are often more vulnerable.

“Today, the block can be used by users to share and hide dangerous or private information about those they have blocked,” X’s engineering team wrote in a post. “Users will be able to see if such behavior is occurring with this update, allowing for greater transparency.”

This situation can be different for users who are more concerned about their security than this selected situation, where they can be blocked by someone who then shares information about them.

Claire Waxman, who works in the Mayor of London’s Office as the Victims Nominee Commissioner, is also concerned about how the changes could affect victims of abuse.

“This is a dangerous decision for social media, and it will have a huge impact on victims – especially those who are being followed – and their safety,” Waxman wrote in X. “Allowing blocked users to see posts helps abusers and hackers, indulge. and promote their behavior.”

Colten Meisner, an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University who studies social media abuse, agrees.

“The block feature was the first way to protect people from abuse,” Meisner told TechCrunch. “It feels like there’s no other way to interpret this policy change than to say, ‘Victims of abuse, the first line of defense you had, now we’re going to take it away.’ Because if you want to be seen, if you want to be seen, that’s what you bring to X.”

Meisner also sees a trend in how Musk’s personal beliefs and vendettas have been reflected in the policy arena.

“[Musk] it’s a classic type of person who gets blocked, so it almost feels like a friendship revenge in a way,” Meisner said. “Elon has had a history of making policy changes at will.”

For example, X has pressed links to competitors, such as Substack and Mastodon at various times. The forum also singled out NPR for the “state-affiliated media” label, which is usually reserved for publications without editorial freedom from their government (NPR receives less than 1% of its $300 million annual budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is NPR .federally funded).

On a platform that has already produced a marked increase in hate speech, the changes to the block feature are a sign of a continuation of the same trend.

“This policy change is just one big step in the history of abuse,” Meisner added.