Voices: Has Elon Musk just started a new war on women by binning the block button?

Are women still welcome on Twitter/X? I ask because the latest move by the social media platform’s owner Elon Musk would suggest otherwise.

In all his wisdom, the amphibian-faced Silicon Valley bro is removing the ability to fully block other users. Which has all the hallmarks of a decision taken in an echo chamber with fewer X chromosomes than its name would suggest.

The rolling-back of the tool will, in Musk’s words, mean the “block function will block that account from engaging with, but not block seeing, public posts”. In other words, you’ll no longer be able to stop anyone from viewing what you share, even if they can’t directly reply to it.

Oh well, that’s OK then. Why worry about tiny inconvenient details such as whom the ability to block actually helps and which of your users might be actively harmed by it no longer existing? That’s their problem, right? God forbid social media platforms should offer a level of protection.

Instead, it’s on you not to share anything you don’t want that bloke who always replied with the aubergine emoji to see. Yes, even if it’s a remark on the state of public transport, news of your work promotion or your latest academic paper. Got that, ladies?

I’m sure there are plenty of men who will be raising an eyebrow at the move, too. But, believe me, the block tool is the reason many women like me are still comfortable using social media in the first place – and the numbers are falling. In 2018, 44 per cent of UK Twitter/X users were women according to an Ipsos Mori survey; by January this year, that had dropped to 38 per cent and will, I think, continue to plummet if this is the direction of travel for the platform.

Removing the block facility sends a particularly sinister message to us – one of entitlement. It says: who do you think you are to block us? We deserve to see what you’re saying. Know your place.

Honestly? If I hadn’t been able to block all the unsavoury men who feel it’s their right to reach out and tell me what a lovely blouse I was wearing on TV just now, I don’t know that I’d still be hanging around on Twitter/X. It’s not having a victim complex – it’s about not being confronted with creepy, sexually suggestive, sometimes antisemitic, occasionally threatening comments whenever you log onto social media to share something about your job or cat. Is that really too much to ask?

What if I hadn’t been able to block the man who tweeted to call me a “ruptured firehose of period blood”, or the many who have instructed me to get back in the kitchen/bedroom? I know there are plenty more examples, I just can’t recall them in detail – which is the whole point. Blocking allows you to remove these individuals (and, sorry, it is always men) from your sphere and tweet soundly, knowing they can no longer see what you’re doing or saying.

And while my work as a journalist means that I put my head above the parapet more than many, this could impact any woman on Twitter/X. What about the old colleague who’s tracked me across various social platforms and attempted to make contact, via increasingly bizarre messages, asking to meet? Each one, when it landed, sent my stress levels spiking; that I’ve been able to simply block his window into my life has removed that.

What if my female friend hadn’t been able to block the person who was stalking her in real life? She barely tweeted – but the idea that this person could see that she had an online presence at all, added to what was already a terrifying ordeal.

Of course, saying “just block them” has never been a foolproof solution to online harassment, and those truly intent on tracking down or stalking someone online will find a way. We absolutely need to tackle the root causes of such behaviour. But, given that this takes time and we’re living in the social media Wild West right now, any roadblock is a welcome one; banning such users would be even better.

Removing the ability to block other users is shortsighted at best. I mean why bother having restraining orders, when a person can still stand at the end of their victim’s street, eh?

Make no mistake: removing the function will make harassment easier, allowing trolls to see what their targets have posted, screenshot it and share it with their own followers. It reopens the door to encourage the sort of dangerous pile-ons that give social media a bad name. I’m sure any woman who’s been at the sharp end of a rape or death threat on the platform would agree.

Yes, if someone you’ve blocked really wants to see your posts, they can currently create a new account and do just that. But how many do? The block feature is as much a deterrent for the blocked as it is peace of mind for the blocker. In a climate where we should be making it harder for the negative real-world consequences of social media to play out, it seems not merely counterintuitive but plain wrong to take it away.

So who is this actually for? How will it improve Twitter/X?

I can’t help but wonder whether it’s a coincidence that the move comes just a couple of weeks after Musk tweeted “Fine Taylor… you win… I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life”, in response to her endorsement of Kamala Harris for US president, with a dig at Republican JD Vance’s “childless cat lady” comment – a post that Hillary Clinton called “rotten and creepy”.

Has Swift blocked him on his own platform? Is this the petulant response of a man-child throwing his toys out of the pram because the most famous woman in the world has denied him access to her posts?

Last year, Musk said the feature “makes no sense”, and threatened to stop letting users block people at all, apart from in direct messaging. How long before it’s removed entirely and the last line of defence for women is removed for women on social media, short of being driven off it? But maybe that was the plan all along.