Pusher not seeing messages that I am broadcasting - php

Question

I followed this tutorial to set up a messenger on my laravel application. My laravel logs show the type of messages below, which tells me that messages are being broadcast, but I'm not seeing them show up on Pusher! I've checked and double checked my pusher credentials and cluster and they are right.
[2020-06-06 14:49:30] local.INFO: Broadcasting [message.posted] on channels [private-
conversation.1] with payload:
{
"message": {
"id": 17,
"content": "h",
"sender_id": 1,
"conversation_id": "1",
"created_at": "2020-06-06T14:49:30.000000Z",
"updated_at": "2020-06-06T14:49:30.000000Z",
"conversation": {
"id": 1,
"new_messages": 0,
"created_at": "2020-06-06T15:41:25.000000Z",
"updated_at": "2020-06-06T14:49:30.000000Z"
}
},
"socket": null
}
I've created an endpoint to send messages and I'm triggering it with Postman. Below are my controller and the event that I'm triggering that should be broadcasting to pusher:
Store method in my controller:
public function store($id, Request $request)
{
$sender_id = auth()->user()->id;
$conversation = Conversation::find($id);
$content = $request->content;
// check that user belongs to the conversation
// updated conversation updated_at
// save message
if (in_array($sender_id, $conversation->users->pluck('id')->toArray())) {
// if the user is a participant in the conversation, they can save message
$message = Message::create([
'sender_id' => $sender_id,
'content' => $content,
'conversation_id' => $id
]);
// update the conversation updated_at
$conversation->touch();
} else {
// if user is not a participant in the conversation
return response([
'message' => 'Sorry, you are not part of this conversation and cannot post messages here'
]);
}
// fire new message posted event
event(new MessageWasPosted($message));
return response([
'message' => 'Message successfully posted',
'content' => $content
]);
}
My event:
class MessageWasPosted implements ShouldBroadcast
{
use Dispatchable, InteractsWithSockets, SerializesModels;
/**
* The message
*
* #var mixed
*/
public $message;
/**
* Create a new event instance.
*
* #return void
*/
public function __construct(Message $message)
{
$this->message = $message;
}
/**
* Get the channels the event should broadcast on.
*
* #return \Illuminate\Broadcasting\Channel|array
*/
public function broadcastOn()
{
return new PrivateChannel('conversation.'.$this->message->conversation->id);
}
/**
* The event's broadcast name
*
* #return string
*
*/
public function broadcastAs()
{
return 'message.posted';
}
}
To make sure auth is not an issue, I just return true in a Channel that I'm using:
<?php
namespace App\Broadcasting;
use App\User;
use App\Conversation;
class ConversationChannel
{
public function __construct()
{
}
/**
* Authenticate the user's access to the channel.
*
* #param \App\User $user
* #return array|bool
*/
public function join(User $user, Conversation $conversation)
{
return true;
return $conversation->users->contains($user);
}
}
On the Pusher debug console I see nothing coming through... Eventhough every now and then I see a random connection happening, no messages are being sent. Is there something obvious I'm missing?
PS: I've tried public channels, and they don't work either.