Ian ‘H’ Watkins has fans on Twitter in a frenzy after seemingly blocking several users. 

The Steps singer began trending this week with the hashtag #BlockedByHFromSteps, with users sharing screenshots of H’s profile with the message “@IanHWatkins has blocked you”.

However, it soon became clear that the move wasn’t intentional and was in fact the result of him signing up to a “bot blocker”. 

“You have no power here.. be gone,” he posted. “Who knew there was a ‘bot blocker’ ?? Love it!! #botblocker.”

Among those targeted was actor James Dreyfus, who reached out to H in a since-deleted tweet. He responded: “I recently signed up for a clean up of ‘bots’ & ‘phobes’… apologies if the blocking offended… I didn’t do this manually!”

As fans continued to share screenshots of their blocked accounts, the Tragedy hitmaker soon saw the funny side, sharing a bunch of memes on the platform. 

Among them was a screengrab from the group’s Stomp music video, showing H sat at a PC, with the caption: “Very busy day at the office… #blocked.”

Steps recently rocketed to the top of the UK Charts with their ‘Platinum Collection’, making them the first British mixed-gender group to have a No. 1 album in four consecutive decades. 

Speaking in an exclusive cover feature in the September 2022 issue of Retro Pop, the group look back on their pop legacy and reveal the significance of their latest milestone.

Ian ‘H’ Watkins says: “When we released our first single, everybody laughed at us. All of the cool cats laughed at us. The record company big-wigs wanted us to go away and then with every single they laughed louder, they laughed harder.

“And then 25 years later, none of those cool cats are around, all those music execs have probably been ditched, and we’re still here.”

And when it comes to the next chapter in Steps’ legacy, Claire maintains the band is living in the moment with their ongoing summer tour – but insists there’s more to come.

“I think we’ve come to realise since we got back together in 2011 that it is good for us to have little gaps here and there,” she says. “It also reminds people of the whole nostalgia of Steps as well, which is a massive part of what we are. So, we don’t want to keep ramming ourselves down people’s throats. 

“Once we’re done with all the summer shows to end this little chapter, we’ll start thinking about the next one…”

READ MORE: Steps: ‘When we started out, all the cool cats laughed at us – but 25 years later they’re gone and we’re still here!’