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

Concerns over the enablement of stalkers and trolls abound

The central move initiated by X that made the headlines for driving migration away from Musk’s platform is a change to the way the ‘Block’ button works. 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. 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.

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