{"id":50732,"date":"2023-08-21T13:25:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T13:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature"},"modified":"2023-08-21T13:50:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T13:50:39","slug":"twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature","title":{"rendered":"Twitter, now X, to remove blocking feature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>The blocking feature will be removed for users of X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk has announced, claiming the feature \u201cmakes no sense\u201d.<\/p>\n

The X boss said users will still be able to block people from directly messaging them, however.<\/p>\n

But many people on social media said it will make it hard for people to remove abusive posts from their timeline.<\/p>\n

It is the latest in a series of changes Mr Musk has made since taking over the site in a $44bn deal last year.<\/p>\n

Currently, when users \u201cblock\u201d an account, it stops that account\u2019s posts from appearing in the blocker\u2019s timeline, and vice versa.<\/p>\n

An account that is blocked can no longer send messages to the blocker, nor can it view their posts.<\/p>\n

Former Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, seemed to agree with Mr Musk\u2019s decision, posting: \u201c100%. Mute only\u201d.<\/p>\n

But there are concerns that muting an account would not be sufficient protection from cases of harassment, abuse or stalking.<\/p>\n

The mute function currently only stops notifications about an account\u2019s posts. An account that is muted can still view the muter\u2019s posts and reply to them.<\/p>\n

One user called Mr Musk\u2019s decision a \u201chuge mistake\u201d, saying there are \u201ctoxic people\u201d on the platform whom users simply did not want to interact with in any way.<\/p>\n

Removing a blocking feature could also potentially violate the terms and conditions of stores like Apple\u2019s App Store and Google Play.<\/p>\n

Both stores have conditions stating that social media apps should allow users facilities to filter harassment or bullying.<\/p>\n

It could mean X is no longer downloadable from those stores.<\/p>\n

If the policy goes ahead, it is not clear if all those accounts which are blocked will automatically become unblocked.<\/p>\n

Users do however have the option to make their account private, hiding their tweets from the public and only allowing accepted followers to view their posts.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, made a series of changes when he took over the social media site, including sacking the company\u2019s top executive team and introducing a charge for the site\u2019s \u201cblue tick\u201d \u2013 or verification \u2013 feature.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk is a prolific poster on X, and he\u2019s well known for not always being serious or following through on the many ideas he throws out to his 153 million followers.<\/p>\n

X itself rarely responds to journalist queries so it\u2019s difficult to verify anything he states on behalf of the firm. But, as its owner, he\u2019s by default a significant, if unreliable, source.<\/p>\n

The block button is an established tool for those who feel attacked, bullied or simply want to shut out an account with whom they have a strong disagreement (and X is full of those).<\/p>\n

Report an account and one of the first bits of advice you get is to either block or mute it while it is investigated. That\u2019s not unique to X.<\/p>\n

Muting an account means you don\u2019t see it \u2013 but it still sees you. And being forced to remain visible to someone you are trying to avoid or feel afraid of seems like an unusual move.<\/p>\n

Musk has been clear that he wants his \u201cdigital town square\u201d to be a platform where all voices are heard, but he\u2019s running the risk of bumping up against both app store terms and conditions and social media regulations around protecting users from online harms.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. The blocking feature will be removed for users of X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk has announced, claiming the feature \u201cmakes no sense\u201d. The X boss said users will still be able to block people from directly messaging them, however. But many people on social media said it will make it hard for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":50731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,31],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-50732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nTwitter, now X, to remove blocking feature - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The blocking feature will be removed for users of X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk has announced, claiming the feature \u201cma ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twitter, now X, to remove blocking feature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The blocking feature will be removed for users of X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk has announced, claiming the feature \u201cma ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-21T13:25:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-21T13:50:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/08\/sm_1692613083.312103.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Twitter, now X, to remove blocking feature\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-21T13:25:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-21T13:50:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature\"},\"wordCount\":589,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/08\/sm_1692613083.312103.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/twitter-now-x-to-remove-blocking-feature\",\"name\":\"Twitter, now X, to remove blocking feature - 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