Elon Musk has made no secret that he’s of the block button. Now, X is altering how blocks work on its platform, although it’s (for now) stopping wanting Musk’s want of nuking the function solely.
As a substitute, X is tweaking the visibility of replies within the context of a block. Beforehand, a consumer might block somebody on X and nonetheless reply to their posts. And the one that was blocked wouldn’t have the ability to view that reply or know the one that had blocked them was participating with their posts. That’s now being rolled again in order that customers will have the ability to see direct replies even when the individual posting has blocked them. In a publish from X’s engineering group, the corporate stated the change is “a part of our ongoing dedication to aligning the block function with our rules as a public city sq..”
We’re making adjustments to how block works.
If a consumer who has blocked you replies to one in all your posts, you’ll now have the ability to see their reply. This variation lets you establish and report any potential unhealthy content material that you simply beforehand couldn’t view, safeguarding each your…
— Engineering (@XEng) Could 2, 2024
The publish additionally hinted that there could also be extra adjustments coming to blocks, which is without doubt one of the most generally used security options on the service. “Our purpose is to permit customers to manage their expertise whereas sustaining the general public visibility of posts,” the corporate stated. That would appear to align with earlier feedback from Musk, who has stated on {that a} public-facing “block” function “is not sensible” and that “block goes to be deleted as a ‘function,’ apart from DMs.”
For now, the adjustments to blocking aren’t that drastic. The truth is, they could even be welcomed by some customers who need extra visibility into what persons are saying about them on the platform. However the truth that X is beginning to change the visibility of beforehand blocked content material is also an indication of extra important adjustments to come back.