ALBAWABA - Recently, Elon Musk's social network, X (formerly known as Twitter), made a modification to its blocking mechanism, making it possible for accounts that were blocked to access the public tweets of individual users who blocked them.
Blocking an account continues to restrict users from responding to, reposting, or following the account of the person who blocked them. On the other hand, according to the new rules, people who have been blocked are now able to access any posts that have been shared publicly, unless the profile of the blocker is private.
The change, according to X's engineering team, attempts to improve transparency by letting users see whether people they've banned mention them. While still cutting the interaction capacity of blocked accounts, the platform claims this update lessens the abuse of blocking to hide potentially damaging material.
The update has brought about plenty of discussion, with skeptics alerting users to possible privacy issues, particularly for those who depend on blocking as a safeguard, fearing the policy change could expose vulnerable users to unwanted attention from harassers, stalkers, and abusers.
Apple and Google require social media apps to enable blocking for safety, which critics say might clash with X's new policy. Apple for example, mandates social media blocking to stop abusive individuals from reading information. As X implements its policy changes, it may be scrutinized for violating app store criteria.
Musk's long-held belief that the blocking function "makes no sense" and need to be swapped out for a "stronger form of mute" is reflected in this update. Musk has previously argued for a method that improves transparency without completely preventing visibility, pointing out that blocking may be circumvented by establishing other accounts.
