Blocking people on social media is usually pretty straightforward; once someone is blocked, they can no longer see what you’re posting or interact with your posts. However, it seems that X (formerly Twitter) is getting an update to its block feature that changes how things work. Now, when you block people on your account, they are free to read everything you post publically, albeit they still cannot interact.
X Has Changed How Blocking People Works
In a post made on X, Elon Musk explains how blocking people on X will now work. Usually, when you block someone, they can no longer see your feed; instead, it’s replaced with a message stating that they’re blocked. Now, they can freely browse your feed; they’re just not allowed to interact or comment on your posts.
Replies to this announcement have been mixed. Some say that anyone you blocked could still use incognito mode or an alt account to see your posts, so allowing blocked users to see public posts is not that big of a deal. Others lamented that X’s blocking tools have become some of the weakest out of all the social media platforms, and feel concerned about keeping their posts and data safe from bad actors.
How to Handle X’s Block Feature Change
It seems that this update to blocking also retroactively applies to anyone you have blocked. As such, if you used your block list to prevent specific people from viewing your posts, they can now see everything unabated. Keep this in mind when making future posts on X.
If you want to continue using X, but you’re concerned that a bad actor is spying on your posts, consider making your X account private. This setting only allows your followers to view your posts, and anyone who wishes to follow you must first ask for permission. Even before X changed how the block function worked, private accounts were a great way for people to protect themselves from people who could easily get around the block feature with an alt account.
