Did Elon Musk just start a new war against women?

The best of Voices in your inbox every week – from controversial columns to expert analysis

Subscribe to our free weekly Voices newsletter with expert opinions and columns

Subscribe to our free weekly Voices newsletter

AAre women still welcome on Twitter/X? I ask because the recent move by the social media platform's owner, Elon Musk, suggests otherwise.

In all his wisdom, the amphibian-faced Silicon Valley bro is removing the ability to block other users entirely. This has all the hallmarks of a decision made in an echo chamber with fewer X chromosomes than the name suggests.

Rolling back the tool, Musk said, means that the “blocking feature will prevent the account from engaging with public posts, but not seeing them.” In other words, you will no longer be able to prevent anyone from seeing your posts, even if the person cannot respond directly.

Well, that's OK. Why worry about small, inconvenient details like who the blocking feature actually helps and which of your users might be actively harmed by removing that feature? That's their problem, isn't it? God forbid social media platforms offer some level of protection.

Instead, it's up to you not to share anything you don't want the guy who always replied with the eggplant emoji to see. Yes, even if it's a comment on the state of public transportation, news about your promotion, or your latest academic paper. Got it, ladies?

I'm sure many men will also raise their eyebrows at this development. But trust me, the blocking tool is the reason many women like me still feel comfortable using social media at all – and the numbers are falling. In 2018, according to an Ipsos Mori survey, 44 percent of UK Twitter/X users were women; in January this year, that figure had fallen to 38 percent and I believe it will continue to fall if the platform moves in this direction.

Removing the blocking feature sends a particularly dire message to us – one of entitlement. It's this: Who do you think you are to block us? We have a right to see what you say. Know your place.

Honestly? If I couldn't block all the obnoxious men who think they have the right to come up to me and tell me what a nice blouse I just wore on TV, I don't think I would still be hanging out on Twitter/X. It's not about having a victim complex – it's about not being confronted with creepy, sexually suggestive, sometimes anti-Semitic, occasionally threatening comments when you log on to social media to share something about your job or your cat. Is that really too much to ask?

What if I couldn't have blocked the man who called me a “burst fire hose of menstrual blood” in a tweet, or the many others who told me to go back to the kitchen/bedroom? I know there are many more examples, I just can't remember them in detail – and that's the point. Blocking allows you to remove these people (and, sorry, they're always men) from your sphere and tweet without worry, knowing they can no longer see what you do or say.

And while as a journalist I stick my neck out more than many, this could affect any woman on Twitter/X. What about the old colleague who stalked me across various social platforms and tried to contact me in increasingly bizarre messages and ask to meet? Every message I received sent my stress levels soaring; being able to simply block his access to my life eliminated that.

What if my 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 even see that she had an online presence made her already horrific ordeal even worse.

Of course, saying “just block them” has never been a foolproof solution to online harassment, and those who are really intent on tracking or stalking someone online will find a way. It is imperative that we address the root causes of such behavior. But since this takes time and we currently live in the Wild West of social media, any obstacle is welcome; blocking such users would be even better.

Removing the ability to block other users is short-sighted at best. I mean, why bother with filing restraining orders when a person can still be at the end of their victim's road, hm?

Let's face it: removing this feature will make harassment easier, as trolls will be able to see what their victims have posted, take screenshots of it, and share it with their own followers. It once again opens the door to dangerous mass attacks that give social media a bad name. I'm sure any woman who has ever been the victim 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 that? The blocking feature is both a deterrent for the blocked and a reassurance for the blocker. In a climate where we should be making it harder for the negative real-world consequences of social media to happen, removing this feature seems not only counterintuitive, but downright wrong.

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

I wonder if it's a coincidence that this move comes just a few weeks after Musk tweeted, “Well Taylor, you won, I'll give you a child and protect your cats with my life,” in response to her support of Kamala Harris for US president. The tweet was a reference to Republican JD Vance's comment about the “childless cat lady” – a post that Hillary Clinton called “depraved and creepy.”

Did Swift block him on his own platform? Is this the petulant reaction of a manchild who is throwing everything out of the game because the most famous woman in the world denied him access to her posts?

Last year, Musk said the feature “makes no sense” and threatened to no longer allow users to block people except in direct messages. How long will it be before the feature is removed entirely, stripping women of their last line of defense on social media without driving them away? But maybe that was the plan all along.