The ABCs of Blocking, Daily Brief April 18, 2024

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my thousands of hours on social media over the years, it’s this: block early, block often.

I have a personal set of “blocking rules” I post frequently – on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, and Twitter/X – explaining who gets blocked. For example, when I see someone in my replies supporting war crimes - boom, instant block. Pushing the propaganda lines of abusive governments? Block. Flinging hate? Block.

But wait, some say, aren’t you a human rights guy? Don’t you believe in freedom of speech?

Of course, I believe in freedom of speech. But just because someone is free to speak, does not mean I am obligated to listen to them – nor share their ideas.

There’s a responsibility I feel I have – that we all have – when using social media. We can control parts of these online spaces, and like a micro-editor of a micro-publication, we get to decide what we want our readers to see, and not to see.

Not only do we have control over our own posts and replies, we have some control over the replies of others. And for both: control implies responsibility. Blocking accounts that are spreading poisonous ideas in the replies to your social media posts is simply responsible behavior.

This always becomes an issue for me when I post about ongoing conflicts. Yesterday, I saw it in replies to social media posts linking to my latest Daily Brief article on Israel/Palestine, but it happens with every conflict. I block people who still seem to think the laws of war and other standards should only apply to the “other side” and not to “their side.”

Defending atrocities is appalling. Those who do so are denying the suffering of innocent individuals, and in doing so, they are denying the fundamental humanity of everyone, including themselves, actually.

In a way, it’s not their fault, of course. Conflicts can negatively impact people’s brains, push their minds into vicious desires for, or at least acceptance of, revenge and punishment, even of the innocent.

But that doesn’t mean I want to see their verbal violence and incitement to hatred in social media replies. And I don’t want my inaction to help such ugliness spread.

So, yes, I block people on social media. Often. I encourage you to do the same.