X owner Mr. Elon Musk has announced that the social media company, formerly known as Twitter, will remove a protective feature that lets users block other accounts.
Mr. Musk was responding to a question from the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley account asking users about their preference between mute and the block feature. The block function on X allows a user to restrict specific accounts from contacting them, seeing their posts, or following them.
Blocking has become an increasingly important feature for many users due to the increased number of spam responses on their timelines. Users on X have complained that removing the blocking feature could lead to an uptick in online harassment on the social media.
Further, removing or limiting the block feature might bring X into conflict with guidelines incorporated by Apple’s App Store and Alphabet’s Google Play, as per the reports. This is the latest in a series of changes Mr. Musk has made since taking over the site in a $44 billion deal last year.
“Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs. X Chief said in a post on the platform, referring to direct messages. X would retain the mute function, which screens a user from seeing specified accounts but, unlike blocking, does not alert the other account to the action,” Mr. Musk added.
“The suggestion that the blocking could be modeled after the service’s old authentication system, which many users see as a security feature, has been pushed back by concerned users,” according to the media reports.
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