A selective blocking request is sent from a requesting network element to an SCF (system control function component), where the request identifies a targeted network element. The SCF may then block communications from the targeted network element to the requesting network element, or it may send an ACG (automatic code gapping) message to the targeted network element requesting it to stop sending communications to the requesting network element. This technique offers the advantage of allowing an overloaded network element to reduce its workload while informing other components of the network that messages from a targeted network component will not be accepted by the overloaded network element.