X is set to allow blocked accounts to view users’ public posts, raising privacy concerns
According to Nima Owji, an independent app researcher, X will shortly modify the functionality of its block button to ensure that even if an account is blocked, it can still view your public posts.
On Monday, Elon Musk verified these modifications, stating that users who have blocked an account will continue to be unable to interact with them. However, they will soon be able to view those users’ posts.
“On Monday, Musk tweeted that the block function will prevent that account from engaging with, but not from viewing, a public post.”
Owji informs TechCrunch via a DM (direct message on X) that users may soon not encounter the “You’re blocked…” message when visiting an account of a user who has forbidden them.
In contrast, users who have been blocked will be able to view the public posts of the account in the same way as any other user.
There will probably continue to be restrictions on the ability to engage with prohibited accounts, reply, repost, or quote. At present, the date of the transition is uncertain.
Musk tweeted on Monday that it was “high time this happened.” Previously, a user could log out and continue to view the tweets of a public account that had blocked them. There was a workaround that could be readily avoided; however, X seems to be removing the function altogether.
Approximately a decade ago, when X was still known as Twitter, the platform implemented comparable modifications to the block feature, which were promptly undone.
The policy of Twitter was revised in 2013 to enable prohibited users to view content, follow, and engage with those who have blocked them. These engagements would be invisible to the account that blocked them; however, they would be visible to others.
Twitter reportedly convened an emergency meeting in response to the backlash against the barring update and promptly reversed its policy to maintain the implementation of more substantial blocks.
The update from X today does not extend to this extent; Musk maintains that engagements are still prohibited under blocks. However, some individuals may not be pleased with the modifications.
Social media users frequently employ the block feature to distance themselves from harassers, offenders, or stalkers. The barriers will be softened due to the new adjustments to blocking.
