Stalled Growth at Elon Musk’s X Raises Concerns for the Future
Elon Musk’s acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter, has not resulted in the growth and success that many expected. In fact, X has experienced stagnant user growth since Musk took over the company. According to a report from the Financial Times, X only had around 251 million global daily active users in the second quarter of 2024, representing a mere 1.6 percent increase compared to the same period the previous year. This is a significant contrast to the double-digit growth and tens of millions of new users that X enjoyed before Musk’s acquisition in October 2022.
The quarterly breakdown of X’s daily active user growth might seem positive at first glance. However, Mashable’s previous reporting suggests that it actually reveals the grim reality of the platform’s situation. X has not openly shared its daily active user numbers since Musk took the company private. Yet, shortly after the acquisition, Musk shared a graph showing a bump in X’s user base. The graph indicated that X added approximately five million daily active users in just one month after Musk took over. However, the latest data shows that X’s user base of 251 million global daily active users in Q2 2024 is essentially back to where it was before Musk acquired the company in October 2022.
It is worth noting that X’s lack of transparency is concerning. The company has not provided any recent data on its daily active user stats, only disputing the Financial Times’ report and claiming that it saw a significant increase in monthly users in the US and UK between August 2023 and June 2024. However, X has refused to share any specific data to support this claim. This lack of transparency raises questions about the true state of X’s user growth and the company’s overall trajectory.
In response to the Financial Times’ report, X’s official “Data on X” account shared some platform statistics on Twitter. However, the account still did not provide any daily active user stats, which is the industry standard metric for measuring growth. This further adds to the concerns surrounding X’s user numbers and the potential decline in its daily active users.
Based on the available data, it appears that Elon Musk’s X has not only failed to sustain the growth it experienced after the acquisition but has also regressed to its pre-Musk user numbers from 2022. This raises questions about Musk’s ability to effectively manage and grow the platform. Moving forward, it will be crucial for X to address these concerns, provide transparent and accurate user data, and implement strategies to regain and sustain user growth. Otherwise, the future of X under Musk’s leadership may remain uncertain.
