X, formerly Twitter, is shutting down the Circe feature, which allows users to share content solely with a select group of people on October 31st.
It was the social network’s response to the “Close Friends” feature on Instagram. From October 31st, users won’t be able to add people to their circles.
“X is deprecating Circles as of Oct 31st, 2023. 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. You will, however, be able to remove people from your Circle, by unfollowing them as described below,” X said on its support page.
After the shutdown, X will still permit users to view their previous Circle posts’ history.
The Circle function was initially made available by Twitter in August 2022 following a brief beta testing period. The company allowed users to add 150 members to their Circle. One Circle could only be made by a user.
Users began to notice that their Circle postings weren’t marked with a green flag earlier this year, leading them to believe that the post was sent to all of their followers. Despite the fact that this was nothing more than a scare tactic, users noticed that in April, some of their Circle postings began to show up on other users’ For You algorithmic timelines.
The company acknowledged this problem as a “security incident” in May, saying it might have made it possible for “users outside of your Twitter Circle” to view tweets from Circle members.
