Elon Musk has announced he will remove blocking feature from accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter. Mr Musk, who is owner of X, said users would no longer be able to block comments from unwanted followers. Under new policy, X users will be unable to restrict individual accounts from contacting them, following them or seeing their posts. However, people will still be able to block direct messages. Musk wrote on Friday: "Block is going to be deleted as 'feature,' except for DMs." He added that being allowed to block other people's comments "makes no sense". change would be latest in Musk's overhaul of his platform. Others include name and logo change and layoffs of employees.
Many X users are up in arms over Mr Musk's latest proposal. They believe block function is essential to keep people safe and to prevent hateful content and harassment from appearing in their feeds. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of crypto-currency company Binance, said Musk should concentrate his efforts on making X safer and easier to use. He said: "X should really solve bots and spam problems before removing blocks." Another critic said lack of blocking feature could make bullying more common. He said it could inhibit free speech of users who are targets of bullies and predators. Another observer said people, "need mechanism to block abusive users".
