Introduced in 2021 when the platform was still called Twitter, Communities aimed to connect users around common interests. Now, X has decided to permanently close the feature, citing issues with spam and management challenges.
X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, noted that usage was minimal.
“Communities had an impressive concept but were only used by less than 0.4% of users, yet they were responsible for 80% of spam reports, financial scams, and malware on X,” Bier said on X, explaining the reasons behind the discontinuation.
“Most successful Communities were merely channels for user acquisition for Kick or compensated clipper groups.”
In reality, Communities deviated from their intended goal, becoming platforms to direct (often paid) traffic to creators beyond X. Clipping involves sharing short videos of another creator’s content, for which clippers are paid. Marketers and creators use these spaces to boost engagement with their original material.
Bier derisively referred to the Communities venture as a “Temu version of subreddits,” drawing a comparison to Reddit’s popular interest-driven groups.
Some successful communities will need to relocate, but Bier implied the feature’s low usage didn’t justify its continuation.
Communities on X are set to shut down on May 6, 2026. Until then, Community admins can transition members to the updated group chat feature.
To accommodate incoming members, XChat, X’s messaging platform, gearing up for a standalone release, will include “joinable” links for group chats that can be shared publicly, supporting up to 350 members per chat. Bier suggested future potential for larger groups.
X isn’t abandoning the community concept but plans a different strategy.
Alongside extended group chats, X also debuted Custom Timelines for Premium subscribers, allowing pinned, topical feeds personalized through user interaction.
X is accelerating product releases and updates, with plans for its XChat app, a payments service, and features like cashtags, topic mute buttons, voice notes in chat, a new photo editor, automatic translations, new reply settings, and custom timelines.
Bier highlighted that the X team aims to release two to three new features weekly, thus more updates are expected.