Blocking people on social media is usually pretty easy; once someone is blocked, they can no longer see what you post or interact with your posts. However, it seems that X (formerly Twitter) is getting an update to its block feature that changes the way things work. Now, when you block people on your account, they are free to read everything you post publicly, although they still cannot interact.
X has changed the way you block people
In a post made on X, Elon Musk explains how blocking people on X will now work. Normally, when you block someone, they can no longer see your feed; instead, it is replaced with a message saying that they have been blocked. Now, they can browse your feed freely; they just aren’t allowed to interact or comment on your posts.
Responses to this announcement have been mixed. Some say that anyone you’ve blocked can still use incognito mode or an alternate account to see your posts, so allowing blocked users to see public posts is no big deal. Others lament that X’s blocking tools have become the weakest of all social media platforms, and are concerned about keeping their posts and data safe from the bad guys.
How to handle changes to X’s block feature
It seems that this update to blocking also applies to anyone you’ve blocked. As such, if you’ve used your block list to prevent certain people from seeing your posts, they can now see everything without restriction. Keep this in mind when posting on X in the future.
If you want to continue using X but you’re worried that a bad guy is spying on your posts, consider making your X account private. This setting allows only your followers to see your posts, and anyone who wants to follow you must ask permission first.
Even before X changed the way the block function worked, private accounts were a great way for people to protect themselves from people who could easily bypass the block feature with an alternate account.