After threatening to change the way blocking features work for more than a year, Elon Musk’s plan finally took effect this week, as X users who have been blocked from other accounts can now view posts by those users.
The X engineering team account announced that the change had begun on Saturday, November 2, and earlier this week, CNET was able to verify that the change had occurred for multiple test accounts. While blocked users can now see your X posts, they can’t reply to them or repost them, nor can they send you direct messages.
Privacy advocates and survivors of domestic violence have strongly opposed the change in blocking features, and it’s not yet clear whether it will conflict with app stores — the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store both require “content user-generated” to include blocking features — but if you want to prevent certain people from seeing your posts, you’ll now have to either close your X account entirely or find another social media service.
If you’ve decided you want to leave X/Twitter because of the block change or for any other reason, we’ll explain your options, including whether you can change your mind about deleting your account. For more, learn how X calls work and how to stop X from training AI on your posts.
How to delete your X account on your iPhone or Android phone
It only takes a few steps to delete your X account from your phone. Note that before closing your account, you may want to create an archive of your tweets. And if you’re interested, you can too download all your X posts.
1. Log in to your X account and tap your profile icon.
2. In the side menu, scroll down and tap on Settings and Supportthen choose Settings and Privacy.
3. Select Your account > Deactivate your account.
4. touch disable.
5. You will be prompted to enter your password and tap on disable to confirm.
If you change your mind, you can restore your account up to 30 days after deactivating it. However, disabling your account is not erasing your account. If you wish to delete your account, you simply must not access your account within the 30-day deactivation period. After 30 days, your account will be deleted and your username will no longer be associated with your account.
How to delete your X account on your computer
If you’re using X on your computer’s web browser, here’s how to delete your account. Again, before you close, think creating an archive of your posts.
1. Sign in to your X account.
2. In the left menu, select More > Settings and Privacy.
3. Under the Your Account section, click Deactivate your account.
4. Click disable.
5. You will then be prompted to enter your password and then confirm that you wish to continue by clicking Deactivate account.
If you change your mind, you have a limited time to reverse account deactivation (see below). If not, your account will be deleted after 30 days.
You can reactivate your X account, but only for so long.
Don’t forget to disconnect third-party apps from your X account
Even after you click the button to deactivate your account, third-party applications may reactivate your account when you sign in to them. To prevent this from happening, you’ll need to revoke third-party apps’ access to your X account, such as applications that automatically delete old posts.
To get started, sign in to your X account and go to Settings and Privacy > Account security and access > Applications and Sessions > Related applications. Then select each application one by one and click Revoke app permissions.
How to reactivate your X account if you change your mind
If you change your mind and decide to keep your X account active, you can always reactivate your account for up to 30 days. Here’s what needs to be done.
1. Sign in to your X account.
2. You will see a notification asking if you want to reactivate your account. If you select yes, you will be redirected to your home timeline X. Note that it may take some time for your posts and followers to be restored.
How to protect your X posts so that only approved followers can see them
If the X block feature changes and you still want to keep your X account but prevent certain people from seeing your posts, you can block them so that only approved followers can see or interact with them .
To protect your posts on X using an iPhone, iPad, or Android device:
1. Sign in to your X account, tap the navigation menu, then tap Settings and Privacy.
2. touch Privacy and security.
3. touch Audience and tagging.
4. Near Protect your postsmove the slider to the right to activate it.
To protect your posts on a desktop computer or mobile device using a web browser:
1. Sign in to your X account, click the More button in the navigation button, and then click Settings and Privacy.
2. Click on Privacy and security
3. Click Audience, media and tagging under Your X Activity.
4. Select the checkbox next to it Protect your posts to close your tweets
5. Confirm your decision by clicking Protect button in the confirmation window that appears
Once your X posts are protected, only your followers will be able to see them, and you’ll need to approve any new followers who request access to them. Your posts will not be indexed by Google or other search engines, although your old public posts may still appear in search results.
Your followers won’t be allowed to retweet your protected posts — they can still favorite them, and you can still retweet public posts from other X users. Your posts will be searchable on X, but they will only appear in results for you and your followers.
Making your X posts public is as easy as taking the initial steps above and then either turning off the “Protect your posts” option in mobile apps or unchecking the box in a web browser.
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