Most social media sites have a feature that allows users to block other users. The tool prevents unwanted viewers from seeing or interacting with your content, and it often removes their content from your feed. It's a helpful tool in a world of pervasive online harassment.
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But that tool, it seems, is at risk of leaving Twitter, according to Elon Musk. In a reply Tweet, the Tesla (TSLA) - Get Free Report CEO said that "blocking public posts makes no sense. It needs to be deprecated in favor of a stronger form of mute."
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The reply led readers first to confusion. "Mute" is a function that prevents someone else's content from showing up in your feed. It does not, however, prevent them from viewing or commenting on your posts. Replacing the block function with a mute function could result in Twitter users (and their followers) still seeing harassing replies in response to their posts.
What's something a little stronger than "mute", hmm...
Political commentator and author Keith Boykin summed up a common sentiment shared by Twitter users--if Musk removed blocking privileges from the platform, the social media site will become too volatile, and there will be a mass exodus of users.
For Musk and many of his followers, the block feature is being used to prevent interaction with people whose political perspectives a user might not agree with. And they're probably right--while missing the point entirely, according to many Twitter users.
There's also theorizing about the relationship between the block function and Musk's revamped Twitter Blue. After a major loss in advertiser dollars, Musk tried to replace some of the lost revenue with Twitter's new subscription service--and the blue checks haven't been the big hit he was hoping for. Some users suspect that block will still be available for users--for a price.