Kowtowing to the users pressure, Twitter within hours of modifying “block” function had to backtrack on the decision. This means that users will once again be able to unwanted followers that they’ve been blocked.

“We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users – we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe. Any blocks you had previously instituted are still in effect” Twitter said in a blog post.

Twitter said that it believes that this is not ideal, largely due to the retaliation against blocking users by blocked users (and sometimes their friends) that often occurs.

“Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about pre-blocking abuse. Moving forward, we will continue to explore features designed to protect users from abuse and prevent retaliation”, it said.

Earlier, Twitter had altered the block feature to let unwanted Twitter followers re-tweet, like, or peer at messages in public accounts of people who block them.

This move evoked strong criticism from the users who felt they this could lead to stalking or abusing. The change to block lists essentially blinded people to unwanted followers but did not prevent them from looking back.