Twitch Users Gain Enhanced Blocking Ability as Twitter May Lose Its Block Feature

Nearly a week has passed since Elon Musk announced on Twitter (now X) that he would remove the blocking feature, sparking debates among users. Many argue that this decision will compromise the safety of the social media platform. However, in contrast to Twitter’s move to eliminate the blocking option, Twitch is adopting a different strategy. Reports suggest that Twitch is introducing a new feature that will enable streamers to completely block users, preventing them from even viewing their streams.

In the Patch Notes E20 stream, it was announced that Twitch is getting new features. Trevor Fisher, the company’s senior project manager, said, “People want their bans to do more,” and introduced a new blocking feature that allows streamers to block specific users. Fisher also said it was a very demanding feature.

Twitch is getting a blocking feature

Twitch has had a blocking feature in place for years. But it’s just a chat block, which means that a blocked user will lose their commenting rights, but they can still watch the stream. However, many said that this was not enough and allowed the user to still watch the stream and use other methods of interaction.

For this reason, it is believed that this blocking feature is a stronger option for streamers to keep certain users away. However, it is not an IP block, which means that if the user has changed their account, they can avoid the block.

Twitter may lose its blocking feature

Responding to a tweet last week discussing whether there is ever a reason to unmute a user, Musk said: “Block will be removed as a ‘feature’, except for DMs.” He also added, “It doesn’t make any sense.” This led many users of the platform to think that Twitter might actually be getting rid of its blocking feature.

Musk has long criticized the blocking feature. In June 2023, he said: “Blocking public messages does not make sense. It must be abandoned in favor of a stronger form of muting.” And he has also complained about the large blacklists that have cluttered the recommendation system. He has spoken out in support of users who have criticized mass ban campaigns in the past.