X (or Twitter) CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Friday saying that users will no longer be able to block other users on the social media platform.
“Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature,’ except for DMs,” he tweeted. “It makes no sense.”
Musk however stated that “you will still be able to mute accounts and block users for DMs.”
It makes no sense
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey agreed with Musk’s decision, saying “100. mute only.” Musk, echoing Dorsey, suggested that users use the mute feature instead, Variety reported. The mute button only removes posts from a certain account from your timeline without unfollowing or blocking. However, a user can always still set their account to private.
Decision met with controversy and anger
The decision garnered much controversy and anger on Musk’s platform, with many users noting their disagreement with the disablement to block others.
The Community Notes feature on Twitter responded to Musk’s controversial decision, stating that he “cannot do this. The feature to block someone on the site is REQUIRED as a social media app to be allowed on the App Store and the Google Play store.” A Forbes report stated that the decision could “likely also result in the removal of the X app from both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Google Play.”
“The feature to block someone on the site is REQUIRED as a social media app to be allowed on the App Store and the Google Play store.”
Community notes
The Variety report notes that no one knows if eliminating the block option will automatically unblock all accounts on the platform, nor does anyone know when this decision will be implemented. A report by CNBC described the option to block unwanted accounts creates a “safety feature.”
A report from the Los Angeles Times claimed that the Telsa and Neurolink CEO “was known as a prolific user of the block button, typically using it on those who criticized him or his companies.”
