Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is witnessing a significant user exodus. Controversial posts on X and overall direction have led to a noticeable decline in active users, particularly in the U.K.
What Happened: Active daily users in the U.K. have decreased from eight million to around 5.6 million in the past year.
Over a third of this drop occurred after Musk made controversial posts, such as "civil war is inevitable," during the summer riots, reported Financial Times, citing Similarweb.
The U.S. has also seen a decrease of about a fifth in X's active users over the same period.
Disgruntled X users are migrating to alternative platforms, with Bluesky, a platform co-founded by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, gaining significant traction.
Despite having fewer absolute numbers than Meta Platform's Threads app, Bluesky has experienced rapid growth over the past six weeks, becoming a preferred choice for media professionals, policy experts, academics, and broader users.
However, the report also highlights a potential issue with Bluesky's user base, which tends to hold similar viewpoints, creating an echo chamber effect.
Despite this, many users seem to appreciate the platform's echo chamber nature, likening it to the "old Twitter."
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Why It Matters: The user migration from X to Bluesky can be traced back to Musk's controversial remarks concerning the nationwide riots in the U.K.
In August, it was reported that these comments led to a 60% increase in Bluesky's general activity from U.K. accounts.
Interestingly, Musk had previously expressed his gratitude for Dorsey after he called X "freedom technology."
This was after Dorsey stepped down from the Bluesky board amid controversy at Block.
Image via Shutterstock
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
