Is a general message of seeking forgiveness for those I have backbitten sufficient, instead of directly asking for their forgiveness, in order to avoid their anger or severing ties with them?

We have previously issued fatwas regarding how to repent from backbiting. Most scholars do not stipulate informing the person who was backbited; rather, seeking forgiveness for them and supplicating for them in their absence is sufficient. This is what Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah affirmed, and the idea of the message is good.