Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and conservative actor James Woods are feuding over Musk’s intent to end “X” users’ ability to block other accounts. X is the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Its owner said last week that, except for direct messages, “block is going to be deleted as a feature. It makes no sense.”
This led to backlash from many loyal X users, including Woods. After reports of the pending change became public, he posted that he was the target for 30 trolls “enlisted to harass me” while involved in a libel suit.
Thank you. If @elonmusk removes the ability to block concerted harassment by trolls or organized political entities, how will “X” be any different from Jack Dorsey’s horrid Twitter?
Musk, whom I once championed, is only doing this to protect his advertisers anyway. Users of X… https://t.co/bR3oMU4f2P
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 19, 2023
Woods added that the change would make X “untenable for people like me, who are willing to share their identities. If he does, I will have no choice but to retire from this site.” He said that Musk is only implementing this change to protect advertisers.
Then it got personal.
The actor stated that the person he considered a free speech defender turned out to be “just another greedy capitalist.”
In a direct response, Musk wrote, “Then delete your account.” Afterward, Woods shared a screenshot apparently showing that the X owner blocked him using the feature that he announced will go away.
That meant Musk utilized the very feature he is intent on doing away with.
Taking it a step further, on Sunday morning Musk admitted to blocking users who were flooding him with complaints about the feature’s pending demise. Then he chided them with, “How does the medicine taste?”
X features a “mute” function that allows a user to screen out posts from other users appearing in their feed. The muted account, however, may still see posts from the muter.
The act of muting an account is anonymous, while a person who is blocked gets a notification of that status when they try to see the blocker’s account.
Many X users vehemently objected to Musk’s warning that the block feature would go away. They insisted that it is an important tool to keep trolls at bay and cut down on harassment.
Fox News noted that conservative commentator Buck Sexton added his name to the list of those who believe blocking serves a valid function.
Sexton explained, “Blocking is one of the most important features on this site. Otherwise, it just turns into an echo chamber of harassment from the most vile idiots.”
