X loses 2.7m active users as Musk's 'digital town square' loses its appeal

A mass departure from Elon Musk's X has led to the site losing about 2.7 million active Apple and Android users in the US in two months, with its rival social media platform Bluesky gaining nearly 2.5 million over the period.

- Raphael Boyd

The exodus has coincided with the exit of prominent figures such as film-makers Guillermo del Toro and Mike Flanagan, and the actors Quinta Brunson and Mark Hamill. Others, such as the Democrat politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have maintained their X accounts but have begun posting more regularly on Bluesky.

According to the digital market intelligence firm Similarweb, the number of daily active US users on X has dropped by 8.4% since early October, from 32.3 million to 29.6 million.

The number of Bluesky users has risen by 1,064%, from 254,500 to roughly 2.7 million since 6 October.

The increase started slowly, but became more noticeable when Musk assumed control of the X handle @america to promote his Donald Trump-supporting Super Pac and began regularly posting in favour of the former and future president.