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 in need of Musk’s want of nuking the characteristic completely.
As a substitute, X is tweaking the visibility of replies within the context of a block. Beforehand, a consumer may block somebody on X and nonetheless reply to their posts. And the one that was blocked wouldn’t be capable 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 be capable to see direct replies even when the individual posting has blocked them. In a put up from X’s engineering crew, the corporate mentioned the change is “a part of our ongoing dedication to aligning the block characteristic 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 among your posts, you’ll now be capable to see their reply. This variation lets you determine and report any potential unhealthy content material that you just beforehand couldn’t view, safeguarding each your…
— Engineering (@XEng) May 2, 2024
The put up additionally hinted that there could also be extra adjustments coming to blocks, which is among the most generally used security options on the service. “Our aim is to permit customers to regulate their expertise whereas sustaining the general public visibility of posts,” the corporate mentioned. That would appear to align with earlier feedback from Musk, who has mentioned on {that a} public-facing “block” characteristic “is senseless” and that “block goes to be deleted as a ‘characteristic,’ apart from DMs.”
For now, the adjustments to blocking aren’t that drastic. In reality, they might 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 may be an indication of extra vital adjustments to come back.