Image via IShowSpeed and X
X has announced that it is going to remove the Communities feature, and the same has resulted in a massive backlash from the streaming world. Some of the biggest creators, including IShowSpeed, xQc, KSI, and Clix, have pushed back against the decision.The streamers have argued that Communities has been one of the most valuable tools available for creators to connect directly with their audiences. With the removal, they will no longer have an avenue to connect to their fan bases.
IShowSpeed, xQc, and other streamers react to removal of communities on X
The announcement came from Nikita Bier, Head of Product at X, who outlined two simultaneous changes to how the platform handles group organisation. XChat is receiving an update that supports joinable links for group chats, allowing creators to share public links directly to their timeline, with support for up to 350 members per chat. At the same time, X Communities, the dedicated feature that allows creators to build large, organised audience hubs, will be deprecated on May 6 due to what Bier described as “declining usage.” The reaction from the creator community was immediate and largely united in opposition.IShowSpeed, who has a community of over 100,000 members on the platform, offered a rare criticism of X’s direction, writing: “I personally don’t think this is a good idea.
I have a community with over 100k in there and it allows me to talk with my community. You shouldn’t do this.” He followed up by adding: “It’s not usual I speak on changes on the app but this is not a good move seriously.”
Image via ishowspeedsui / X
KSI was equally direct, stating: “Legit such a terrible decision. I look at my community daily! Losing that access to my audience is devastating.”xQc aimed at both the removal and the proposed replacement, writing: “Don’t remove it, I need this.
Also, it’s a good product, the new product, no one will use.”Fortnite pro and streamer Clix summed up the frustration many creators felt about the 350-member cap on the replacement group chats, tweeting: “Tf is this decision, how am I gonna put my community in a 350 person groupchat.”
X delays the decision until May 30
Following the response from streamers, X decided to delay the decision a bit and also increased the capacity of the group chat. This is what Nikita Bier exactly stated: “We’ve heard you. To give sufficient time to migrate: You’ll have until May 30th to transition to XChat. We’ll also increase groupchat limits to 500 members tomorrow and aim to reach 1000 in the next couple weeks. This should cover all but a handful of communities on X.
”This was all you needed to know about the recent removal of the communities feature on X.
