Facebook quietly fixed an error that prevented you from blocking Mark Zuckerberg

Did you know you can block Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook? What a Friday. Up until September of this year, it was a little-known secret that anybody, including Zuckerberg, could be blocked on the site. But after the company acknowledged this, it was discovered that high-frequency profiles — like the one owned and operated by the creator of Facebook — couldn’t be blocked due to an error that tripped up the feature if a page had been blocked by a large number of users in a short period of time.

You'd receive an error message that said something like, “Block Error. Sorry, there was a problem blocking Mark Zuckerberg. Please try again." This wasn't intentional, Facebook told BuzzFeed News when the publication first noticed the bug that prevented users from exercising blocking powers against the site’s CEO. The company said the fix was a technical challenge that may take some time to fix, and Facebook confirmed to The Verge today that it quietly rolled out that fix a few weeks later. It went largely unnoticed.

Matt Navarra, the social media director at The Next Web, tweeted today about his revelation that Facebook’s blocking ability could be used against Zuck. The sheer thrill of removing Zuck’s ability to dip into your News Feed is enough to put anyone on a power trip:

I just blocked Zuckerberg too, and it feels okay. I wouldn't say I'm drunk with blocking powers, as I unblocked him immediately after pressing the block button. But yeah, it's nice to have this ability. I appreciate it, and the recognition from one of the world’s most powerful and influence-wielding corporations that some users may not want to get PR-scrubbed updates from its leader. Thanks, Facebook.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated when the ability to block Mark Zuckerberg became available. Facebook fixed the bug back in September, not today or this week.