X to prioritise mutual connections in algorithmic shift to tame reply sections
Nikita Bier says the tweak aims to reduce toxicity and foster meaningful dialogue following the shutdown of the Communities feature.
X is implementing a targeted algorithmic adjustment to increase the visibility of posts and replies from mutual connections, defined as users who follow each other. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, stated the change aims to reduce the perception of the replies section as a "battleground" dominated by strangers and to foster more meaningful conversations. The update follows the shutdown of the Communities feature in April 2026, which was discontinued due to low engagement and high rates of spam and scams.
Bier explained that the platform’s algorithm previously lacked the necessary programming to ensure that responses from friends appeared prominently in the replies section. This omission resulted in users encountering more interactions from people they did not recognise, which contributed to a hostile environment. The "small tweak" is designed to correct this data gap, allowing users to find common interests more easily in response to user requests.
The social media company hopes the update will make exchanges on the platform less toxic and encourage more substantive dialogue. Bier noted that the change addresses a specific structural flaw in how content was ranked, ensuring that mutuals are not overshadowed by unknown accounts in comment threads.
This strategic pivot comes after X discontinued its Communities feature in April 2026. The initiative, which allowed users to interact with others sharing specific interests, was shut down due to low engagement, with less than 0.4 per cent of users utilising the feature. According to Bier, the section contributed to 80 per cent of spam reports, financial scams, and malware on the platform, while consuming significant team resources.
Bier previously highlighted that the Communities feature was negatively impacting the rest of the app due to the operational burden it placed on the team. The current algorithmic shift represents an alternative approach to curating user experience, focusing on existing social graphs rather than interest-based clusters. The specific timeline for the rollout of this tweak is not detailed beyond the announcement.
