Twitter blocking change backfires, users revolt

Twitter Inc was forced to nix a change to its “block” feature on Thursday after attracting a wave of protest from users who said the new policy empowered perpetrators of online abuse.

The humbling reversal on one of the most sensitive policy issues facing the social network came as Twitter encountered user revolt for the first time as a public company. Under the short-lived change on Thursday, a blocked Twitter user could view or tweet at the person who blocked him or her, but that activity would have been rendered invisible to the victim as if the offending account did not exist.