X is rolling out its controversial update to the block feature, allowing people to view your public posts even if you have blocked them. People have protested this change, arguing that they don’t want blocked users to see their posts for reasons of safety.
Blocked users still can’t follow the person who has blocked them, engage with their posts, or send direct messages to them.
An old version of X’s support page says blocked users couldn’t see a user’s following and followers lists. The company has now updated the page to remove that reference, and it now allows users to see the following and followers lists of the people who have blocked them.
The social network said its logic behind this change was that the block feature can be used to share and hide harmful or private information about someone, and its new iteration would result in more transparency. This mostly falls flat, given that X allows users to make their accounts private and share information.
X’s take on the block feature goes against how it’s been implemented conventionally, and when the company announced its intention to revamp it, many argued that the change would encourage stalking and make it easy for people to harass users.
Software engineer and tech diversity advocate Tracy Chou has built an app that lets users automate blocking, saying that even though users can get around the block by creating other accounts, friction matters.
“Making it easy for the creeper to creep is not a good thing,” she said in a post on X last month.