diff --git a/app/services/status_message_creation_service.rb b/app/services/status_message_creation_service.rb
index 12bd8fbae1181be600eae7fde31937ba0a9fe277..f9fcdea1a999620ad8eb02ba2668372858416e5d 100644
--- a/app/services/status_message_creation_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/status_message_creation_service.rb
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@ class StatusMessageCreationService
   def process(status_message, aspect_ids, services)
     add_to_streams(status_message, aspect_ids) unless status_message.public
     dispatch(status_message, services)
-    user.participate!(status_message)
   end
 
   def add_to_streams(status_message, aspect_ids)
diff --git a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
index 85538fe0b2c0abd1d65f512319b4448ede665500..a045a7a065cc4e4ee881be568ddb8bbdb14ab18b 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
@@ -190,11 +190,10 @@ describe StatusMessagesController, :type => :controller do
       expect(StatusMessage.first.provider_display_name).to eq('mobile')
     end
 
-    it "has one participation" do
+    it "has no participation" do
       post :create, status_message_hash
       new_message = StatusMessage.find_by_text(text)
-      expect(new_message.participations.count).to eq(1)
-      expect(new_message.participations.first.count).to eq(1)
+      expect(new_message.participations.count).to eq(0)
     end
 
     context 'with photos' do