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Elon Musk threatens to remove X block function [1]

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Date: 2024-10 

Since he took over X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, Elon Musk has taken numerous steps that reduce the safety and moderation of the social network, including letting extremist voices back online while cutting the safety team in the name of free speech.

Now, Musk appears ready to trash one of X’s few remaining safety mechanisms: the block button. The billionaire this week posted his hoped-for change that “the block function will block that account from engaging with, but not block seeing, a public post”.

Journalist James Ball noted that this is not the first time that Musk has made similar threats to reimagine the block function, suggesting it may be a false alarm. It is also worth noting that it has always been possible to view a blocked account by creating a new account and using that to view the blocked content, although this requires a bit of effort.

As a female journalist, being targeted on X has long been part of the job description. It shouldn’t be, but ask any of us and you’ll hear the same story. From dealing with name-calling, hate speech, and threats, as well as pile-ons and more than one targeted harassment campaign, the block button has often been my friend.

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The function is not perfect: when you are the target of a coordinated pile-on, you can’t block accounts faster than the abuse is rolling in. But at least you can click that button and know that you have put up a barrier between yourself and those sending online hate.

For victims and survivors of stalking and domestic abuse, removing the block button presents a much more significant danger.

One in five respondents to a 2022 survey by Women’s Aid on tech abuse said an abuser or stalker had used their online accounts, including social media, to monitor what they were doing or where they were during the first year of the Covid pandemic alone.

One respondent said their stalker or abuser “watched everything I did on my social media … Followed lots of my friends to see what I was doing. Stalked my family and friends via social media.”

Another wrote how their perpetrator “used social media and all contact points to terrorise me, send over 100 messages on various platforms every day”.

Although we do not know the women’s situations – for example, a woman in an abusive relationship may be unable to use the block button due to other safety concerns – in theory, the blocking function allows X users to prevent or at least mitigate this kind of harassing behaviour.

Without it, victims and survivors have fewer tools to protect their online space. While that is frightening enough, online abuse can spill into real life attacks too, with abusers using social media to track where their victim might be, and ensuring they are in the same place.

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/musk-block-function-twitter-online-abuse/

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