X Shutters Communities Feature Amid Low Engagement and High Spam Reports

Published on April 23, 2026

X is poised to close its Communities feature in May, as confirmed ’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier. This feature, aimed at creating public groups around shared interests, struggled to gain traction following its introduction prior to Elon Musk’s acquisition and the subsequent rebranding of Twitter to X.

The service, used 0.4% of users, became a breeding ground for spam, scams, and malware, contributing to most of the platform’s reports. Bier noted that while a few users found genuine value in Communities, most activity centered around promotional channels rather than meaningful engagement.

In light of these challenges, X is replacing Communities with its new XChat app, designed for group chats of up to 350 members. Moderators can create joinable links to facilitate transitions before the Communities feature fully retires on May 30, following an extended deadline from an earlier date.

This shift raises questions about the future of group interactions on X. Unlike Communities’ asynchronous posts, XChat demands real-time participation. Users now seeking topic-focused timelines will need to explore X’s new custom timelines, a feature aiming to aggregate posts on specific interests more effectively.

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