X (Twitter)
statistics 2026

User numbers: the essentials

• X now reports users together with Grok: about 550 million monthly active users on 31 March 2026, up from 520 million at the end of 2025. Of those, 117 million used Grok's AI features (SpaceX prospectus, 2026)
• 1.3 billion accounts were active at least once in the twelve months to March 2026. By SpaceX's own definition this count can include fake, spam and bot accounts (SpaceX prospectus, 2026)
• The last comparable Twitter figure dates from Q2 2022: 237.8 million monetizable daily active users, of which 41.5 million in the US (Twitter, 2022)
• Advertising reach fell by 124 million (-22.3%) between October 2025 and October 2026 to 433 million, placing X 9th among platforms by ad reach. That is 5.2% of the world population and 7.0% of internet users (DataReportal, 2026)
• Independent estimates are lower: Similarweb puts X's app audience at about 302 million monthly users in June 2026 (-3% year on year) and mobile daily users at 123.7 million in July 2026 (-7%) (Similarweb via TechCrunch, 2026)
• US usage is slowly declining: 23% of American adults used X in 2021, 22% in 2023, 21% in 2024 and 2025, and 18% in 2026 (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• In the US, X ads could reach 99.0 million people at the end of 2025, 34.3% of adults, down 3.7% from a year earlier (DataReportal, 2026)
• Europe shrank sharply in 2025: in X's own DSA reports, EU monthly users fell from 102.0 million (April-June 2025) to 64.8 million (second half of 2025) and 64.7 million (first half of 2026). The Netherlands ranks 4th in the EU with 5.07 million, after France (12.39 million), Spain (11.03 million) and Germany (9.95 million) (X DSA report via Blog du Modérateur, 2026)

X user profile: key insights

• X skews male: 23% of American men use X versus 14% of women. In X's ad audience the male share is 62.5% worldwide and 65.6% in the US (Pew Research Center, 2026; DataReportal, 2026; DataReportal, 2026)
• Young adults use X most: 31% of Americans aged 18-29 use X, against 7% of those 65 and older (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• Higher income and education go with more use: 24% of adults in households earning $100,000 or more use X, against 14% below $30,000; 22% of college graduates use it (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• X is more urban: 21% of urban adults use X, 19% in the suburbs and 14% in rural areas (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• Politically balanced in use, not in news: 20% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats use X, but 16% of Republicans regularly get news there against 12% of Democrats (Pew Research Center, 2026; Pew Research Center, 2026)
• The news gender gap is wide: 15% of American men regularly get news on X, against 6% of women; among 18-29 year olds it is 18% (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• News audiences have shifted right: the Reuters Institute sees news audiences for X growing on the political right and falling on the left since the pandemic, while X remains highly influential in politics and media (Reuters Institute, 2026)

Audience value for marketers

X reaches a younger, more male, more urban and higher-income audience than the average American adult, and an audience that comes to the platform for news. That makes it relevant for media, politics, finance and tech, and for brands that want to be part of the conversation around current events.

The gender skew (62.5% of the ad audience is male) and the strong news focus are relevant factors for targeting. Compare this with LinkedIn, where the audience is similar in education but the context is professional rather than news-driven.

X Ads: the numbers

• Ad revenue is 59% below the Twitter peak: $1.844 billion in 2025 against $4.506 billion in 2021 (our calculation from both filings) (SpaceX prospectus, 2026; Twitter, 2022)
• 2024 was the low point: advertising revenue fell by $595 million, which SpaceX attributes to "the loss of advertising partners for X". In 2025 it rose by $116 million (SpaceX prospectus, 2026)
• A rebuild cost $100 million: in Q1 2026 ad revenue was $343 million against $443 million a year earlier, due to an overhaul of the advertising platform (SpaceX prospectus, 2026)
• Q3 2026 shows recovery: $538 million in advertising revenue against $367 million in Q2 2026 and $454 million in Q3 2025. Over the first nine months of 2026 it was $1.248 billion, against $1.323 billion a year earlier (SpaceX Q3 2026 results)
• Advertisers were sceptical: in Kantar's 2024 survey of 1,000 senior marketers, a net 26% planned to cut X spend in 2025, only 4% saw X ads as brand safe (Google: 39%) and trust in X ads fell from 22% in 2022 to 12% in 2024 (Kantar via VideoWeek, 2024)
• The ad audience is shrinking: X's advertising reach fell 22.3% in a year to 433 million people (October 2026) (DataReportal, 2026)
• No reliable public CPC or CPM benchmark for X Ads with a documented method was available at the time of this update, so we do not publish one. Costs depend on market, targeting and creative.

Is advertising on X still worth it?

The advertising market on X has fundamentally changed since the acquisition. Revenue fell from $4.5 billion in 2021 to $1.7 billion in 2024 as advertising partners left, and only recovered slightly in 2025. Kantar found that just 4% of marketers saw X as a brand-safe environment.

For businesses, the choice depends on sector and objective. In niches where X is the place for news and debate, such as politics, finance, media and tech, you still reach a large, engaged audience: 57% of American X users regularly get news there. For brands that put brand safety first, test small and measure carefully.

The competition in detail

• Threads says it has passed X: Mark Zuckerberg said in October 2026 that Threads has overtaken X in monthly active users, with more than 500 million. Time spent per user on Threads grew by more than 20% year on year (Social Media Today, 2026)
• On daily mobile users Threads is also ahead: 147 million in July 2026 (+21.3%), against 123.7 million for X (-7%), according to Similarweb (Similarweb via TechCrunch, 2026)
• Bluesky is shrinking after its peak: nearly 46 million registered users, but app monthly users fell from an average of 22.1 million in Q4 2024 to 10.7 million in Q2 2026 (-52%); in June 2026 it was 10.4 million and daily users about 3 million (Similarweb via TechCrunch, 2026)
• Mastodon stays small: 10.5 million accounts on 9 November 2026, of which 738,894 active, spread across 7,207 servers (joinmastodon.org, 2026)
• In the US, 8% of adults used Threads and 4% Bluesky in 2025, against 21% for X. Only 1% regularly get news on Bluesky (Pew Research Center, 2025; Pew Research Center, 2026)
• In the Netherlands, Bluesky had about 350,000 users in mid-2025 and Truth Social 190,000, according to Newcom. Threads gained 270,000 Dutch users in 2024 (Newcom via NOS, 2025; Newcom via NOS, 2025)
• Dutch politicians are spread out: 62% of members of the Dutch House of Representatives are active on X and 30% on Bluesky. Among left-leaning politicians, 46% are on Bluesky (Binnenlands Bestuur, 2026)