Elon Musk’s X to ‘take away direct messages’ as new XChat may very well be near launch

Elon Musk’s ‘X’ continues to make big changes to features, this time with the planned removal of Direct Messages (DMs) — here’s all we know about the latest Twitter changes

X, formerly known as Twitter, has been seeing major changes since Elon Musk took over in October 2022 — and not just the name.

From outages last month, to nudging brands and users alike to Bluesky thanks to an increase in misinformation, hate speech, and banal ads, one of the biggest changes has been allowing blocked users to still see what someone is up to.

Now, it seems Elon and co. are poised to make another huge change, this time to DMs (Direct Messages). In fact, it sounds like the feature isn’t long for this world.

X to remove DMs as Twitter changes again?

Posting on X, one software engineer suggest DMs are likely to go the way of the Dodo — a huge shift in how X (and Twitter before it) have operated.

Asked about a bug, Zach Warunek declined to check on it, saying “this page will be deleted soon so no.”

After the user requested clarification, Warunek said “No, not like request messages but like the whole entire DM’s will be gone soon”.

In its place, it appears X will soon roll out XChat, as shared by screenshots you can see in the post below.

It looks a lot like DMs but with more of a group focus.

According to some leaked information, DMs will offer encryption, the option to send files, vanishing mode, and voice messages when it rolls out.

It seems likely, however, that this will be tied to X Premium.

Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk for $44 billion in October 2022, and the site was rebranded to ‘X’ in July 2023, retiring the bird logo in the process.

For more on Elon Musk, we covered why he’s so desperate to be seen as a gamer after a particularly brutal livestream from his private jet.

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.