Twitter May Not Be Able to Remove Block Feature, Despite Elon Musk's Claims

Twitter can't remove the block button without breaking Apple and Google's policies.

By Cade Onder

Twitter may not be able to remove the block button after all. Last year, Elon Musk acquired Twitter and decided to begin completely overhauling not just the app, but the entire company. He laid off over half the company, made massive policy changes, made other changes that then got quickly reversed, and much, much more. It's been very chaotic to say the least with Twitter even breaking a few times in the last few months. On top of that, Twitter has also been rebranded to X, a name that Elon Musk has wanted to use since the early 2000s.

The latest big change from Elon Musk was announced today and it didn't go over very well, even with his supporters. Elon Musk noted that Twitter would be removing the block button from the app because it doesn't "make sense" and suggested that the mute feature is sufficient enough. The mute feature only prevents the person who muted the other user from seeing their tweets, but the muted user can still reply to you, access your profile, and so on. Nevertheless, people quickly pointed out that Twitter can't remove the block button, at least not if it wants to stay on the mobile stores. It's against Apple and Google's policies to have an app where users can't block other people, so, it would be a risky move. Twitter could technically do it, but it would really only be usable via browser then.

With that said, Elon Musk has not deleted the tweet despite having a massive community note on it. It's unclear if he will correct it whatsoever, but some Twitter employees have said that people shouldn't be alarmed by the news. Twitter employee @Aqueel noted that they could just strengthen the powers of the mute button and allow people to carry their block list over to the mute list, making it a less painful process. This may not even happen given the problems that would be imposed if the block button was removed.

What do you think of Twitter possibly removing the block button? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

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