(Credit: ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)
Did you block someone on X? They'll soon be able to see your tweets because Elon Musk thinks blocking people on his platform "makes no sense."
More than a year after Musk said blocking would be "deleted as a 'feature,'" he's following through by allowing people to view your feeds even if you've blocked them. "The block function will block that account from engaging with, but not block seeing, [a] public post," he tweeted.
The change was first spotted by independent app researcher Nima Owji. Musk responded to Owji's tweet to say it was "high time this happened."
It's unclear when this will formally roll out, though. After last year's announcement, Musk has complained about blocking several times on X. "It achieves nothing to 'block' public posts. Time to get rid of block in favor of stronger mute," he wrote in March. Several months later, he said: "Another change is coming to Block in that blocked users will be able to see public posts." But so far, nothing has been released.
Musk says people should still be able to block others from sending them unsolicited DMs.
In response to Musk, Owji argued on X that "the block button for public accounts was a stupid feature since everyone could view the posts from their browser's incognito mode."
That's not entirely true. You can see public accounts in incognito mode, but it'll display tweets by like count, not chronologically. On Musk's account, for example, you'll be met mostly with tweets from 2022 when you're signed out and viewing it in incognito mode.
If you're really desperate to see someone's tweets, you can create another account and switch over when necessary. But perhaps it would be a more productive use of your time to reflect on why that person blocked you in the first place.
The block function is a helpful way to remove someone from your X experience, from stalkers to bots. As one user noted: "Some of us have been threatened on here and harassed horribly! This could put some of us in danger! This is BS if I can't block acts that harass people!"
"The ability for blocked users to still view posts could undermine the security and peace of mind that many rely on. We need to consider how this will impact those who use the block feature to distance themselves from harassment or abuse," wrote another user.