X users will soon lose the option to block others

X (formerly Twitter) users will no longer be able to block other accounts, according to a post by the social media platform’s owner Elon Musk.

The billionaire entrepreneur announced on Friday that he intends to delete the blocking feature, except for direct messages.

Musk was responding to a question by @teslaownersSV, who asked: “Is there ever a reason to block vs mute someone? Give your reasons.”

Musk replied: “Block is going to be deleted as a “feature”, except for DMs. It makes no sense.”

Block is going to be deleted as a “feature”, except for DMs

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023

The post sparked a wave of criticism from users who argued that blocking is an essential tool to combat harassment, trolls and spam on X.

One user, @xDaily, replied to Musk: “OPINION: Removing Blocking altogether is going too far. While it can be used for purposes such as cutting off people who disagree with you politically, it has an important role to combat harassment, trolls and spam which are a significant problem for many users on the platform.” Musk simply responded with “mute”.

Mute

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023

X’s blocking feature allows users to prevent specific accounts from following them, seeing their posts or contacting them. The mute feature, on the other hand, only hides the tweets of muted accounts from the user’s timeline, but does not prevent them from interacting with the user.

Musk’s plan to remove blocking is the latest in a series of controversial changes he has made since acquiring the platform in October 2022 for $44 billion.

Musk has severally said he bought X because “it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”

He has also said he wants to form “a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints” to help guide the company’s policies on free speech.

However, some experts and activists have expressed concern that X under Musk will become a haven for misinformation, hate speech and abuse.