soft block

Intermediate 📱 Gen-Z / Internet Slang

Definition

The act of unfollowing someone without blocking them, so they don't receive a notification that you've unfollowed them. The person remains able to see your profile and follow you again if they visit it, but won't see your new posts in their feed.

Example Usage

I didn't want the drama, so I just soft blocked her instead of actually blocking.

Origin

Emerged in early 2010s Twitter culture as users sought ways to distance themselves from followers without confrontation.

Fun Fact

Soft blocking became a widespread practice during Twitter arguments as a non-confrontational way to remove followers.

Source: Definition backfill (hailey)