Why You Can’t Block Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook

Mashable reported that Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg was unblockable. If you tried blocking him, you’ll get an error message saying – “General Block failed error: Block failed”. Most bloggers speculated that it was some kind of prank or Easter egg by Developers at Facebook. Turns out that it’s actually a protection feature which kicks in when a lot of people try to block one user. This was revealed by Facebook spokesperson:


“This error isn’t specific to any one account. It’s generated when a person has been blocked a certain large number of times. In very rare instances, a viral campaign will develop instructing lots of people to all wrongly block the same person. The purpose of this system is to protect the experience for people targeted by these campaigns. We’re constantly working to improve our systems and are taking a closer look at this one.”

BlockZuck.com was one such site, which encouraged a viral campaign to block Zuckerberg for Facebook’s controversial Places feature. It enabled Facebook Mobile users with location based functionality to form groups around locations like Coffee Shops or Restaurants.



I think it’s a good feature, especially when some innocent is being targeted by an angry bunch of users on Facebook. Thanks for clarifying, it could have very well been a potential PR disaster for Mark and Facebook!