What’s the Difference Between Twitter Block and Mute?

Like any other massively used social media website, Twitter has many annoying and rude users. Some people are just ignorant, while others are intentionally trolling or harassing somebody. Nobody should endure such behavior in real life or on the Internet.

Luckily, Twitter gives you several tools to defend yourself from such pesky people. You can either mute them to filter out their tweets from your feed or block them to entirely get rid of them. This article will cover the advantages and disadvantages of both options, explain how to invoke them, and investigate what exactly happens when you take these actions.

Blocking on Twitter

Blocking people on Twitter works similarly to blocking on other social media sites like Facebook. Once you block somebody they will not be able to see or retweet your tweets, send you tweets, or even message you.

When they go to your profile they will see a note saying that they were blocked from following your account. Unfortunately, this means they will know that you blocked them straight away. Even if Twitter does not send notifications about blocking to their users, an easy search for your account will let them know.

Once you blocked somebody on Twitter you will also unfollow them automatically and they will be removed from your list of followers.

How to Block Someone on Twitter

Follow these easy steps to block anyone on Twitter:

1. Log into your Twitter account.
   
2. Visit the profile of the person soon to be blocked.
   
3. Click on the icon with three dots.
   
4. You will get a dropdown menu from which you should choose Block.
   
5. Confirm that you want to block them.
   

How to Revert a Block on Twitter

Maybe you blocked a friend on accident, or you changed your mind about blocking somebody. You can easily unblock someone by doing this:

1. Log into Twitter.
2. Tap on your profile to open Settings screen, then choose Setting and privacy.
3. Select Privacy and safety.
4. Choose Mute and block and then Blocked accounts.
5. You will see a list of all the accounts you blocked.
6. Click on Blocked next to their name.
7. Remember that blocking unfollows the account automatically so you will have to follow them again which can make things awkward.
   

Muting on Twitter

Simply put, muting someone on Twitter is like a more polite version of blocking them. Same like blocking, they will not be notified that you did it. You will clear your feed of their tweets and retweets and they will still see your retweets and tweets. They will also be able to follow you and send you direct messages.

Basically, you are stealth banning them and they are oblivious to it. It is amazing, isn’t it? The only way they can figure out that you muted them is if they DM you on multiple occasions. Seeing no reply, they will see what’s up.

Sometimes you want to block somebody on social media even if they are your friend. Their tweets might be annoying or excessive, or they just don’t know how to behave on the Internet. In this case, you can mute them without feeling any guilt.

How to Mute a User on Twitter

Here is how you can mute somebody on Twitter:

1. Log into your account.
   
2. Visit the profile of the unlucky person.
   
3. Open the dropdown menu (three dots).
   
4. Choose Mute.
   
5. Confirm that you want to mute them.
   

If you want to unmute somebody, follow the same steps and instead of Mute, choose Unmute.

The Main Differences Between Twitter Block and Mute

To quickly recap the main differences, think of a block as an absolute and mute as a partial solution. A blocked user can never see your profile unless they log out and use a different account. A muted user sees everything you tweet or retweet.

On the other hand, you do not see their posts on your feed. They can still message you, retweet, and favorite and quote your tweets. You cannot do it from your profile, but if you visit theirs you can do it from there.

Regarding notifications, it is simple. You get no notifications from blocked users, but you can get some from muted users. Only in case you are following a muted profile, you will be notified of their activity.

Should I Mute or Should I Block?

Now that you know the key differences, it is up to you to decide which course of action you want to take. Remember that blocking people, although more satisfying, is also more visible and easier to figure out.

If you want to shadowban someone, just mute them. You will get rid of them and focus on more interesting tweets, without them even suspecting anything.