BYE BYE BIRDIE

X Is Getting Rid of Circles Feature Launched Under Twitter Years

Users will say goodbye to the Circles feature on Oct. 31.

Elon Musk’s X is killing off a feature launched during the Twitter years, confirming in a PSA on Thursday that it is “depreciating” Circles. Launched in August 2022, the feature allowed users to share posts with a specific group of followers instead of all of them. The company will permanently disable Circles on Oct. 31, it said. “After this date, you will not be able to create new posts that are limited to your Circle, nor will you be able to add people to your Circle,” an X blog post read. “You will, however, be able to remove people from your Circle,” it added, providing steps on how to do so. The move follows privacy concerns after a glitch in April exposed private posts of some users to their followers outside their Circle—sometimes even complete strangers. Among the major changes to the platform since Musk took over are changing the company’s name, killing off the famous blue bird logo, and in December 2022, relaunching Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service. In April, it began winding down its legacy Verification program and killed off users’ checkmarks unless they were subscribed.