Elon Musk's new "brilliant" idea to remove the user blocking feature in X (better known as Twitter), which he announced recently, may lead to the removal of the application from the App Store and PlayStore, writes NDTV.
As a reminder, Max announced this possible innovation in a tweet (x?).
Block is going to be deleted as a “feature”, except for DMs
Block is going to be deleted as a “feature”, except for DMs
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023But the problem is that the lack of the ability to complain and block a user directly violates the rules of both the Apple App Store and the Google PlayStore.
Apple's App Store rules require that in the case of user-generated content (UGS), and tweets are exactly that, apps must contain "the ability to block users" and have "a method for filtering unwanted material in the app" and "a mechanism for reporting offensive content and responding to problems in a timely manner."
The Google PlayStore has almost the same requirements: apps with user-generated content must provide "an internal system for reporting unwanted UGC and users" and take "action against that UGC and/or user, if necessary." The PlayStore also requires that apps containing UGC provide "an internal system for blocking UGC and users."
So, it seems that this time Max has lied again, and there will be no lifting of the blocking after all, because removal from the largest mobile platforms is a death sentence for X.
By the way, X is already having problems with the number of new downloads of the app. The app, which once never left the Top 10, is now only #51 in the App Store and #66 in the Play Store. Why? It's simple: Brand X is losing out to Twitter. In addition, many users intentionally do not update Twitter to keep the bird icon and the familiar look of the app.