Another huge change seems to be in the works at X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It seems plans are in place to get rid of the current direct message system. After a user raised issues with how DMs have been working on the platform, X software engineer Zach Warunek stated that “the whole entire DM’s will be gone soon.” This immediately led to pushback from a lot of users, who shared all kinds of concerns and theories about why this feature is going away. Multiple users have even speculated that the reason could be a recent Wall Street Journal story that discussed Elon Musk’s own use of the feature. However, an actual reason for the move has not been confirmed.
Direct messages are pretty flawed in their current state. Since Musk’s takeover at the company, users are constantly being inundated with spam messages from bots and even hacked accounts. Despite the massive flaws, DMs are a very important part of the social media platform. Some use them simply for chat purposes with friends, while others use them to reach out for business. Replies to Warunek’s post are filled with a mix of surprise and frustration, particularly in the wake of all the other huge changes that have been made since Musk took over the platform.
While the current DM system is going away, it seems that a full replacement is in the works. Full details have not been revealed, but the replacement will be called XChat. At this time, no one really knows what the difference will be, or how long it might take for this replacement to be made available. Some users are speculating that XChat could be a completely separate app from the current one, similar to Facebook with Messenger, with new features like encryption. Hopefully this is not a case of engineers destroying something flawed before a working replacement is ready, but it’s not like that would be surprising at this point.
Since taking over Twitter in 2022, Musk has made a number of changes to the way that the platform operates. From monetization of the blue check system, to bringing back previously banned accounts, to changing the name and logo of the platform itself. All of these changes have led to frustration from users over how things have been handled at the company. Warunek’s post has clearly struck a nerve, and brought back a lot of frustrations that have been bubbling below the surface.
For now, X users will just have to wait and see how all of this is handled. Many users are hoping that at the very least, XChat will allow them to move over prior conversations so they can pick back up where they left off. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing what will change, and what will remain intact. For the time being, X users will just have to see how things play out.
No, not like request messages but like the whole entire DM’s will be gone soon
— Zach Warunek (@ZachWarunek) April 16, 2025
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Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/twitter-x-getting-rid-of-dms-direct-messages-elon-musk/