Friend,

Since Elon Musk bought Twitter, he’s rolled back the kinds of safety measures and failed to enforce the kinds of policies that might keep hate and lies at bay. And things are only going to get worse thanks to his latest not-so-Xcellent idea: He just announced that Twitter — now known as X — plans to eliminate the block button.¹

The block button, a common feature on major social-media platforms, allows people to block other users from seeing and engaging with their content. Removing the block button will make it easier for abusers to target users — disproportionately women, people of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community and global political dissidents — with harassment, hate and other kinds of attacks.

Here’s where Apple, Google and the app stores come in: Through the Apple App Store and Google Play, these companies set terms and conditions that apps must follow and app developers must comply with to be available on Apple or Google devices.

These companies have the responsibility to ensure that all apps hosted through their app stores give users the tools necessary to protect themselves from hate and harassment online. And today, we’re calling on Apple and Google to remove X from their app stores if Musk removes the block button. Will you add your name to our petition today?

Here’s where these companies’ policies stand:

• Google specifically requires social-media platforms to have a block feature, period.
• Apple’s policies are vague, leaving room for interpretation as to whether users or the platform have the ability to use blocking.

We’re calling on Google to enforce its existing terms of service for Google Play. And we’re calling on Apple to clarify its terms of service to, at minimum, require a user-centered block feature to give targets of abuse the tools to better guard against attacks.

So, we’re asking: Will you call on Apple and Google to immediately remove X from their app stores if Musk eliminates the block button?

Thanks for taking action on this urgent issue,

All of us at Free Press
freepress.net

1. “Elon Musk Says X Will Get Rid of Blocking,” The Los Angeles Times, Aug. 18, 2023