After speaking about it for over a yr, X is now going to dilute the account blocking performance within the app by eradicating the block button from a number of locations.
BREAKING: X goes to take away the present block button, which suggests if an account is public, their posts shall be seen to blocked customers too!
— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) September 23, 2024
As outlined by App Researcher Nima OG, Eradicating present block possibility from X posts. You’ll nonetheless have the ability to seemingly block somebody from their profile, however even when an account is blocked, the blocked person will nonetheless have the ability to see your public posts.
Which suggests the one option to forestall anybody from seeing your updates is to publish privately, or solely to your followers, which is able to preserve them out of view.
The logic right here is that anybody, blocked or not, can nonetheless see public posts, in the event that they log in by way of one other account or by way of an incognito window, so blocking on this sense has no actual worth.
However there may be. With the ability to block somebody means they do not robotically see your updates of their feed, which generally is a useful deterrent for problematic customers. Customers who’ve been victims of harassment and abuse have discovered nice worth on this possibility, as though blocked customers can nonetheless view somebody’s public updates, their lack of simple availability is a limiting consider many circumstances.
Each for that motive The App Retailer and Google Play Retailer require a blocking possibility, and it seems that blocking X’s makes an attempt to water down and cut back could also be a violation of those parameters.
However X proprietor Elon Musk is adamant that blocking is a detrimental issue, largely due to the block listing, which he believes limits the attain of his posts and different profiles on the app.
Large block lists are problematic. They disrupt the advice system and create a DDoS vector.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 12, 2023
I am unsure how the block listing would “create a DDoS vector”, however principally, Elon is making an attempt to do away with blocking as a operate as a result of it limits the attain of posts by individuals who he thinks ought to get extra visibility.
That appears to be the principle motivation behind the transfer, and it is not fully clear the way it will work in apply. However Elon confirmed the matter Blocking will still existWill probably be onerous to seek out.
This appears problematic and doubtlessly causes greater issues than it intends to repair. However once more, Elon feels that his attain is being restricted by the block listing, and that is the one method he can deny them. So he is seemingly transferring cautiously to satisfy the App Retailer’s necessities.
