X is shutting down its Communities feature

X is officially shutting down its Communities feature, which originally launched in 2021 to connect users around shared interests. The social media platform is ending the feature because it was overrun with spam and a headache to manage, according to the company. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, explained that Communities had a great vision but were used by less than 0.4% of users. Despite this low adoption, the feature contributed to 80% of spam reports, financial scams, and malware on X, Bier stated. He even described the failed project as a “Temu version of subreddits,” referencing the interest-based groups on Reddit.

The platform found that the few groups that did succeed were not serving their original purpose. Instead, Bier noted that most of the successful groups operated as user-acquisition channels for the streaming platform Kick or functioned as compensated clipper communities. Clipping is the practice of sharing short clips of another creator’s work or a brand’s video, for which the clipper is compensated by marketers or creators to generate interest in their original content. Rather than fostering organic discussions, these groups became tools for driving paid traffic to external creators outside of X.

Communities on X will officially shut down on May 6, 2026. However, the company has extended the migration deadline for community administrators to May 30, allowing them to transition their members to alternative setups. X is directing these users toward XChat, the platform’s messaging service that is poised to launch as a standalone app. To accommodate the transition, XChat will support joinable public links for group chats. These links can be shared and pinned on X timelines, currently supporting up to 500 members, with an aim to reach 1,000 members in the coming weeks. Bier indicated that X is not giving up on communities entirely but will take a different approach, which includes launching custom timelines for Premium subscribers alongside the expanded group chats.

Why it matters

This move signals a strategic shift at X, prioritizing platform integrity and core messaging over interest-based groups that became vectors for spam and external user acquisition.