X to Shut Down Communities as Spam Surges: What the Feature’s Exit Signals for XChat

X is retiring its Communities feature, a product introduced in 2021 to let users gather around shared interests inside the social network.

The company says Communities drew limited engagement while creating an outsized burden for moderation and safety teams.

Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said Communities were used by fewer than 0.4% of users but generated about 80% of spam reports tied to scams and malware. He argued the mismatch made the feature difficult to justify as the broader app competed for engineering time.

Communities timeline and migration plan

X says Communities will stop working on May 6, 2026, with administrators encouraged to move groups into XChat’s updated group messaging experience. The company extended the migration window to May 30 to give moderators more time to transition members.

To absorb those groups, XChat is adding joinable links that can be shared on timelines and pinned for easier discovery. Group chats support up to 500 members, and X says it aims to raise that ceiling to 1 000 in the coming weeks.

Why X is shifting focus?

Bier framed the move as part of a broader push to simplify community-building tools and concentrate them in messaging rather than standalone forums. He also suggested some Communities functioned mainly as traffic funnels, rather than sustained interest groups.

The shutdown comes as X accelerates product changes across messaging and feeds, including Custom Timelines for Premium subscribers. X has also signaled that XChat is being developed with the potential to operate as a standalone app, indicating a bigger strategic bet on chat-based engagement.