Renowned entrepreneur Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter for a staggering $44 billion in the past, has been making substantial alterations to the platform since his takeover. These changes range from renaming the platform “X.com” to making dark mode the default setting and many more.
In a recent development, Musk shared that Twitter’s user block option is set to be removed. This decision emerged in response to a post from Tesla’s account, asking whether there’s a difference between blocking and muting other users. Musk’s reply indicated that the block feature would soon be phased out, except for Direct Messages.
The block function prevents fellow users from interacting, viewing, and following an account, whereas muting merely conceals one’s posts from another user’s feed. The muted user remains unaware of the action.
However, the block feature will persist for Direct Messages, maintaining a private communication channel.
Furthermore, it is still pending whether Musk will start a poll to implement his decision. This has been the case in many previous instances. For example, In December, he conducted a poll to survey users about whether he should step down as the company CEO. Over 57% of respondents indicated that he should step down. In May, Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino as the company’s new CEO. Even on changing the default dark mode, he relied on a poll to make the decision.
However, Musk’s decision aligns with his emphasis on fostering freedom of expression and raises concerns about user privacy. The block feature has been a crucial tool on social media platforms to counteract harassment and misuse. Its removal could potentially compromise user privacy and safety.
Elon Musk did not provide any reason for the deletion of the block feature on Twitter; he simply stated that the feature does not make sense.
Elon Musk’s moves reflect his vision of promoting open dialogue. However, the decision’s impact on user privacy remains a pressing topic, with implications for both the platform’s community and the wider social media landscape.
