X's algorithm will finally prioritize replies from people you already follow
X is rolling out a "small tweak" to boost the visibility of your posts and replies to your mutuals, or people who you follow and
X is rolling out a "small tweak" to boost the visibility of your posts and replies to your mutuals, or people who you follow and who follow you back. The platform's head of product, Nikita Bier, explained X's algorithm was missing the programming necessary to make your friends' responses show up more prominently in your replies section. "This resulted in the reply section feeling more like a battleground with people you don't recognize," he wrote.
Bier also said that the algorithm tweak will help people find common interests more easily, which people have apparently been asking for. X is likely hoping that the update could make exchanges on its platform less toxic and would lead to more meaningful conversations. We're rolling out a small tweak to boost visibility of your posts to your mutuals (people who you follow back). We noticed this data was missing from the algo and it made your friends appear less in your replies.
This resulted in the reply section feeling more like a... — Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) July 13, 2026 X used to have a Communities section so you can interact with people that shared the same interests. Communities gave you an easy way to follow a feed made up of only the people or subject matter you care about. The company shut it down in April this year, though, because it never really caught on.
It was "used by less than 0.4 percent of users — yet contributed to 80 percent of spam reports, financial scams, and malware on X," Bier said back then. The feature was taking up so much of the X team's time, "while the rest of the app suffered."
The BriefWire