On Friday, Elon Musk appeared to announce plans to remove the block feature from X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. A number of users responded, including conservative actor James Woods, who said he would likely leave the platform entirely if the feature is taken away. Musk was quick to fire back at Woods’ claim and tweeted back, “Then delete your account.”
Woods defended his position, replying to one X user that he believes removing the block feature will make Musk’s X no different from “Jack Dorsey’s horrid Twitter.”
He continued, “Musk, whom I once championed, is only doing this to protect his advertisers anyway. Users of X are mere pawns to turn the site into an electronic shopping mall. The man I thought was a defender of free speech is just another greedy capitalist. Disappointing, but not surprising.”
Woods is hardly the only person concerned about losing the ability to block users on Twitter. A number of other people responded to the suggestion, including the account Wall Street Silver, which posted, “This is a huge mistake. Block is a critical feature on this app. Regretted minutes would skyrocket. There are certain evil people that users just don’t want following them or replying to them.”
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan joined the chorus as well. As he wrote, “Bring back the Nazis. Let them get verified. Put ads next to them. And get rid of the Block feature. What could possibly go wrong?”
If Musk goes through with his plan to remove the block feature, he might have to contend with more than outrage from users who are still on the social media platform. A Community Note added to Musk’s declaration indicated that removing the ability to block others might be a violation of the terms of service for both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
In other words, Musk could find himself steering an app that can no longer be downloaded on the two largest distribution platforms on the internet. While an exit from Woods might not give him pause, getting blocked by Apple and Google at the same time just might.
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