Xs controversial changes to blocking and AI training sees half a million
users leave for rival Bluesky which then crashes under the strain

Date:
Fri, 18 Oct 2024 13:40:25 +0000

Description:
Not happy with X due to the incoming change for blocking? You wouldnt be
alone and others are seriously unhappy with new AI scraping policy, too.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

Elon Musks latest changes for X are driving more users away not exactly a surprise, granted and many of them are flocking to rival social media outlet Bluesky. So many made the switch, in fact, leading to Bluesky briefly going down due to the volume of incoming new users.

The central move initiated by X that made the headlines for driving migration away from Musks platform is a change to the way the Block button works. This was actually announced back in September, but is officially being implemented now (well, itll be in place soon were told).

It means that going forward, X users who you have blocked will still be able to view your (public) posts though they wont be able to engage with them in any way (from replies to liking and so forth).

This is problematic for obvious reasons, in terms of enabling stalkers and trolls who will still be able to view the posts of an account that has
blocked them, when previously this wasnt the case. In the past, blocking
meant that the blocked user couldnt see any posts (or anything at all, save for a message telling them that theyve been blocked), but soon, this will change.

As The Independent reports, this confirmation of the move to relax what blocking means led to a flood of departures from X to Bluesky, a
decentralized take on X that was the brainchild of former co-founder and CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey.

Bluesky posted to say it had in excess of 100,000 new users inside 12 hours following the announcement by X, after the rival network highlighted the fact that its block function stops those who are blocked from viewing any posts.

Such was the volume of disgruntled defectors that Bluesky actually went down for a couple of hours, with those fleeing X noting that they couldnt sign up (and for that matter, users couldnt even login). Down Detector recorded a server outage lasting for a couple of hours, though this has now calmed down to a few scattered reports, and normal service appears to have resumed for Bluesky.

In an update, Bluesky noted that it has now gained half a million new users
in the past day.

Theres another reason that some folks are rapidly exiting from X stage left (and right, and indeed center, clambering over the audience, it would seem), and thats a change to Xs privacy policy.

As TechCrunch reports, the new policy includes an update that allows third-party collaborators to use content on X to train their AI models
unless the user opts out. This is a notable extension of the reach of AI training on X, which has so far only been used to train Musks own Grok AI (unless users opt out, again). (Image credit: Getty Images) Analysis: You mystify me

Theres been a strong reaction to both moves, particularly the blocking
change.

Lets start with the AI side of the equation, though, and whats going on
there. Artists are not at all happy about the possibility of their content being used in AI training for which they read as being stolen effectively but there is a choice to opt out (although we dont yet know where that option will lie).

Still, clearly many folks feel this is an ominous switch in direction for X, and are voting with their feet to make a point. Certainly, it should be an
opt in rather than opt out decision, but often this is a concern glossed over in the tech industry for obvious reasons.

To be fair to Musk, X isnt the only social media platform heading down this path, of course Reddit is at the head of the pack in terms of monetizing in the AI sphere.

The switch in blocking policy is a truly mystifying one, though, and
seemingly part of Musks self-destructive side when it comes to his social media property. We cant think of a good reason why this has been enacted,
save for nope. We just cant think of one.

For Xs part, the main argument in favor of the change is that block can be used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about those theyve blocked, and so the ability to still view the posts of a blocked account means greater transparency in terms of detecting such instances.

But that does not square up at all, not even remotely, with wider and far
more pressing concerns about blocked people now being able to act in harmful ways towards those who have blocked them.

Diluting blocking in this way is undeniably going to make life better for stalkers, unhinged trolls and folks who might harass other denizens of X for kicks, and as many have rightly pointed out, there are genuine online safety concerns here.

While a blocked person may not be able to repost in theory, there is nothing to stop them from taking a screenshot of a post, and sharing that on X (or elsewhere). Or more broadly, theres nothing preventing the blocked person
from using info from the visible posts of the person they might be harassing or stalking.

Surely when you weigh up these two factors the rights of the blocked, and rights of the blocker on the scales of worry, the tipping thats going on is severe.

Another reason raised for doing away with full-blocking is that its easy to get around by creating another dummy account but not everyone will go to those lengths (far from it, wed imagine), and so this is only a partial point of argument at best.

All in all, at the very least, isnt some sort of compromise called for here? Perhaps in the form of some sort of full block option that could be left in.

The reaction to the move has been entirely negative, and hopefully, X and
Musk are taking that on board.

Bluesky is certainly capitalizing on this, not just reinforcing that it
offers full blocking capabilities as mentioned, but also more besides (the ability to subscribe to block lists maintained by users you trust for example).

Currently, Bluesky has half a million new recruits for its platform, as mentioned, and its currently trending on X with over 200K posts. The talk is now turning to how the new philosophy on blocking might end up with the X app being blocked itself from Google and Apples stores. You might also like... Jack Dorsey's Bluesky is like Twitter without Musk and that's good Elon Musk's year-long quest to destroy Twitter is the most successful inside job
in tech history How to use ChatGPT everything beginners need to know about the AI chatbot



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/xs-controversial-changes-to- blocking-and-ai-training-sees-half-a-million-users-leave-for-rival-bluesky-whi ch-then-crashes-under-the-strain


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