New Delhi:

Elon Musk-run X social media platform has started to launch an update that will allow people you’ve blocked to continue to see your posts and your followers’ lists.

According to the company, If your posts are set to public, accounts you have blocked can see your posts.

“We’re starting to launch the block function update,” said X Engineering in a post.

“However, they cannot engage (like reply, repost, etc.) with your posts,” according to X guidelines.

Block is a feature that helps you control how you interact with other accounts on X. This feature helps people restrict specific accounts from following, Direct Messaging, and engaging with them.

The tech billionaire had earlier claimed that stopping people from seeing your public posts “makes no sense.”

Now, X is rolling out its controversial update to the block feature, allowing people to view your public posts even if you have blocked them.

“Accounts you have blocked cannot follow you, and you cannot follow an account you have blocked. Blocking an account you are currently following will cause you to unfollow that account (and them to unfollow you). If you decide to unblock that account, you will have to follow that account again,” according to X.

Blocked users still can’t follow the person who has blocked them, engage with their posts, or send direct messages to them.

Meanwhile, software engineer Tracy Chou has built an app that lets users automate blocking, saying that even though users can get around the block by creating other accounts, friction matters.

“Making it easy for the creeper to creep is not a good thing,” she said in a post on X.

The social network has argued that the block feature can be used to share and hide harmful or private information about someone. However, people have protested this change.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

Climate activists on Thursday gained access to a UK airport where Taylor Swift’s luxury plane is stationed and sprayed private jets with orange paint, a day after Stonehenge was attacked.

The two activists made it on to the airfield at Stansted airport northeast of London, climate protest group Just Stop Oil said in a statement.

Essex Police said they had arrested two women aged 22 and 28 on suspicion of criminal damage and interference with national infrastructure.

The pair, named by Just Stop Oil as Jennifer Kowalski, 28, and Cole Macdonald, 22, used fire extinguishers filled with orange paint to spray two private jets, the group’s statement said.

It said they were demanding that Britain’s next government after the July 4 general election legally commit to phasing out fossil fuels by 2030.

In a post on X, Just Stop Oil added: “Jennifer and Cole cut the fence into the private airfield at Stansted where @taylorswift13’s jet is parked, demanding an emergency treaty to end fossil fuels by 2030.”

JUST STOP OIL PAINT PRIVATE JETS HOURS AFTER TAYLOR SWIFT’S LANDS

Jennifer and Cole cut the fence into the private airfield at Stansted where @taylorswift13‘s jet is parked, demanding an emergency treaty to end fossil fuels by 2030.

Donate — https://t.co/UwALfVtRmRpic.twitter.com/aORdvUuQmU

— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) June 20, 2024

The accompanying video showed one of the activists cutting a hole in the fence before spraying the paint over the jets.

Taylor Swift has attracted criticism over her use of private jets.

In 2022, she headlined a list published by British sustainability marketing firm Yard of the “worst private jet CO2 emission offenders” among celebrities.

Her jet flew 170 times in 2022, with total flight emissions for the year reaching 8,293.54 tonnes, or 1,184.8 times more than the average person, Yard said.

The protest at Stansted airport came a day after activists sprayed an orange substance on Stonehenge, the prehistoric UNESCO World Heritage Site in southwest England.

Just Stop Oil said two activists had “decorated Stonehenge in orange powder paint” in a stunt that was roundly condemned by political leaders and heritage bodies.

Police arrested two people on suspicion of damaging the ancient monument.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)