The long-standing debate about whether legislators are breaking the law (I think they are) when they block constituents on Twitter is about to become a non-question, not just because they don’t call it Twitter anymore.
The debate started before Trump got kicked off Twitter, but the point is that, as usual, Demcorats did precisely the opposite of the thing they claimed to champion. The courts said President Trump could not block constituents (and they cheered), but Dems did it as often and quickly as they pleased (blocking constituents), even after that decision.
I agree with the courts, but that didn’t stop Dems and more than a few Republicans from blocking anyone they deemed trollish or harassing – which includes asking questions about support for taxes or their voting record.
If it is your personal non-political stream, assuming you have separated them, then fine, block and mute at will. But if that is the only online access to you as an elected official on that platform, sorry – no joy. It would be best to endure the trolls because it comes with the position, though it may soon no longer matter on Elon’s Platform.
‘X,’ which I still pronounce as “Twitter,” will be making more changes, one of which is the end of blocking.
It’s been almost two weeks since Musk announced his intentions to remove the blocking function from every aspect of X aside from direct messaging.
While this has not yet come to fruition, it could mean that users will not be able to limit who they interact with online.
This was met with floods of concern from X users, with many fearful of harassment and scams.
I sense that Musk will look at the problem when it raises its head and search for solutions other than blocking, though I am thoroughly unqualified to tell you what that might look like. Or maybe not. It might just cost them users, not just legislators or other public officers who can no longer escape pointed questions, inconvenient truths, or the digital equivalent of having rotten vegetables thrown at you online.
I’ve never blocked anyone on any social media account (that I recall), so I couldn’t care less. I find trolls amusing sources of content for these pages and, when inspired, will goad them or egg them on with a series of statements or questions until they’ve more or less written the post for me.
GraniteGrok has banned Disqus users, but the range of offenses there are few. Implied or actual threats of violence against a person or group or persistent harassment of other commenters can get you booted. Vulgar language (which we will edit out, but only to a point). And the rare off-topic, out-of-left-field trolls. If you can’t stay on topic and make your point without being a villainous douchebag, we’ve no time for you. Otherwise, play ball. But that is a private website comment policy in a world where fewer media sites even allow comments and not a recognized digital square.
X (is it pronounced Eks?) is a fast-paced news, information, and opinion aggregator. It’s everything about everyone, all the time. And if you happen to be in elected office or working on the taxpayer dime, your presence comes with expectations, and one of them is that you have to listen to the public.
That seems to me to be enough to get any number of folks fleeing any platform where they cannot hide in their partisan bubble, so watch to see who jumps ship. I’m sure you’ll be able to link more than a few of them to either the Democrat Party or their RINO water-carrying brethren.
Update: It wasn’t quite ready when it went live, so I cleaned it up a bit after publication.