Elon Musk’s social media site, X, is not shutting down its Direct Messages (DMs) feature, contrary to widespread rumors. Software developer Zach Warunek, who develops on the site, responded to fears after proposing a significant overhaul of the messaging feature.
User Fears Ignited by Mysterious Post
Warunek, who has more than 24.8K followers on X, responded to a question about the message requests feature. He posted, “The whole entire DM’s will be gone soon.” The cryptic message sparked a flurry of responses from X users, with most believing that private messaging would be removed from the platform.
The post attracted hundreds of comments, with users expressing worry and skepticism.
“I see. Exciting to see what will replace it hehe,” one person said. Another said, “That’s a horrible idea- please don’t do it.” A third asked, “You’re deleting the DM feature? Why? That sounds like a terrible idea.”
Clarification: DMs Are Staying, Just Getting Rewritten
Addressing the panic, Warunek later clarified that DMs are not deleted but rather rewritten. “Guys obviously X would not delete messaging. Rewrite instead,” he said.
Guys obviously ? would not delete messaging. Rewrite instead
— Zach Warunek (@ZachWarunek) April 16, 2025
This relief calmed some of the users, with one responding, “Thanks for clarifying. People just like to panic. Also it’s a good sign for X, that people take it so seriously when something is changing. It means they like your platform.”
Rumors of ‘XChat’ and AI Bot Grok’s Denial
Rumors of a new feature called ‘XChat’ had been doing the rounds following a report by a user about what seemed to be a revamped chat interface through screenshots. Many thought this would be in place of classic DMs.
BREAKING: Let’s take a look at X’s upcoming messenger “XChat”! pic.twitter.com/h0rySubehy
— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) April 9, 2025
But X’s AI butler, Grok, rejected the rumor. “The claim about X removing Direct Messages and replacing them with “XChat” is not real. No official announcements from X confirm this change, and DMs are still in use,” it declared.
Grok further said, “XChat appears to be a potential new feature under development, not a replacement for DMs. You can continue using DMs as usual.”
X’s Vision for the Future
There are indications that Elon Musk is looking to turn X into an “everything app,” where it will incorporate media sharing, AI applications, and payment services—meaning the overhaul of DMs could be only a fraction of a larger platform shift.
