Blocking and restricting people
Blocking and restricting are the two personal-safety tools you have as an account holder to shape who can reach you and what they see. They are different tools for different situations, and picking the right one matters. This article explains what each does, how to use them, and how they interact with reporting and the Trust & Safety team.
Blocking
Blocking is total. The blocked person:
- Cannot see any of your content — even posts you shared publicly before the block.
- Cannot call, message, add you to a group, or tag you.
- Cannot find your profile in search, "People you may know," friend suggestions, or through mutual friends.
- Is not notified. Neither of you receives a system notification that the other has blocked you. The other person will notice that your material is missing, but they aren't told why.
Block someone
- From a profile. Tap the ⋮ menu → Block.
- From a conversation. Tap the ⋮ menu → Block.
- From the block list. Go to Settings → Privacy → Blocked → Add person and search.
The block takes effect immediately. Any active session the blocked person has open, in any conversation or group you share, is severed as far as your account is concerned within a minute.
Unblock someone
Go to Settings → Privacy → Blocked → tap the person → Unblock.
- Unblocking does not automatically restore the friend relationship. Blocking severs the friend connection on both sides; unblocking restores visibility but not the friendship. You'll need to re-friend each other if you want that back.
- Unblocking a person restores their ability to see any of your content they previously had access to based on its audience settings.
Blocking effects in group chats
- If you and the blocked person are in the same group, neither of you sees the other's messages in the group.
- The group admin is not notified.
- If the blocked person is the group admin, the group itself is not affected — you just can't see their messages.
Blocked and reported
Blocking and reporting are different actions with different effects:
- Blocking is personal — it says "this person can't reach me."
- Reporting is a policy action — it says "this person violated the rules; please review."
The Block dialog includes an optional "Also report this person" checkbox. Use it when the person's behaviour warrants a review, not just a distance.
Restricting
Restrict is a softer option — useful when you don't want a confrontation but you want distance. The restricted person:
- Can still see your posts as their audience settings allow. If a post is friends-only and they are a friend, they see it.
- Can still message you, but their messages land in a Filtered inbox instead of your main inbox. You can review filtered messages at your own pace and choose whether to reply.
- Sees you as offline for presence and last-seen.
- Cannot see your read receipts. Messages appear unread to them even after you've opened them.
- Cannot see your typing indicator.
Restrict someone
- From a profile. Tap the ⋮ menu → Restrict.
- From a message. Tap the ⋮ menu → Restrict sender.
The person is not notified.
Unrestrict someone
Go to Settings → Privacy → Restricted → tap the person → Unrestrict. The relationship goes back to normal immediately.
When to block vs. restrict
- Use blocking if the person is a stranger, an ex-friend you've decided to fully cut off, someone harassing you, or someone whose messages you don't want to see at all.
- Use restricting when the person is someone you might interact with in the future — a distant family member, a former colleague, an acquaintance — where you don't want a confrontation but you need distance.
Restrict is also a good pre-report step. It stops the person from reaching you immediately without the friction of a full block, giving you time to gather evidence and decide whether to escalate to a report.
Block evasion
If a blocked person creates a new account to contact you, or tries to reach you through a mutual friend or a group chat proxy:
- Report the new account. Long-press → Report → choose the appropriate category, and mention "block evasion" in the optional context field.
- Block the new account as well.
- Trust & Safety treats block-evasion as a serious violation and acts on it directly.
For the review process behind reports, see Reporting content, messages, or accounts.
Blocking someone in a memorial context
You can block someone whose account has been memorialised, but doing so has no practical effect on the memorial page — memorialised accounts don't generate new posts, messages, or friend requests. If your reason is that someone is submitting inappropriate contributions to a memorial, please contact the memorial's contacts directly and, if needed, email memorials@seldeo.com.
Your block list stays private
Nobody else can see who you've blocked or restricted. The list is not shared with other Seldeo accounts, is not exported in data downloads by default (you can include it explicitly), and is not shared with advertisers or law enforcement absent a specific legal process.