In a new move that sparked a flurry of criticism, Platform X has made a major change to its blocking functionality. The change, which was announced in September of last year and is now in effect, will allow blocked users to view posts from users who blocked them.
Previously, if a user blocked you, you could not see any of their posts, replies, or other activity. However, now although you still cannot interact with this user, you can see their public posts. X will display a message informing you that you have been blocked; But you can see public posts of this user.
According to Engadget’s report, this new X decision has faced strong reactions from users and experts. Critics believe that the change jeopardizes the safety of users, especially women and environmental activists, and helps promote harassing behavior and stalking. They believe that this change is considered as ignoring the rights of users in creating a safe space in social networks.
On the other hand, X sees this change as a step towards greater transparency and preventing abuse of the blocking feature. According to the platform, users were previously able to view the posts of blocked users using other user accounts; Therefore, this change is simply a more obvious way of doing this.
This change has caused many users to look for alternatives to X. Platforms like BlueSky and Trades have grown in popularity in recent months. Trades recently announced that it has reached 275 million monthly active users, and BlueSky has attracted millions of new users due to these features and X’s recent problems in Brazil.
Some experts believe that this change of conditions in blocking X is in conflict with the rules of Apple and Google software stores. These companies emphasize in their rules that apps that provide user-generated content must provide the ability to block annoying users. However, since blocking is still available on X, it’s unclear whether these companies will take action.
