--- title: "Twitter Use Has Absolutely Plummeted Since Elon Musk Took Over" description: "X-formerly-Twitter owner Elon Musk is really struggling to stop the platform from hemorrhaging users." date: "2023-10-26" modified: "2023-10-26" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/twitter-use-way-down" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "social media" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Twitter Use Has Absolutely Plummeted Since Elon Musk Took Over ![In his gambit to take over Twitter, Elon Musk seems to have played himself, his users, and his lenders to the tune of $44 billion. ]() *\Image: Nathan Howard/Getty Images\* ## Down the Drain In his gambit to take over Twitter and turn it into the "[everything app]()" of his dreams, owner Elon Musk is really struggling to stop the platform from hemorrhaging users. As [*Axios* reports](), downloads of X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, have veritably plummeted in 2023, marking Musk's first year of ownership less as a tumultuous journey and more as a rapidly sinking ship. Insights from multiple social media analytics firms paint a worrying picture of the future of X, with monthly downloads being down 38 percent globally and 57 percent in the US between October 2022 and October 2023, per estimates from the digital intelligence company Sensor Tower reviewed by *Axios*. When visualized in a simple line chart, courtesy of *Axios*, that downward trend is downright jarring to behold, with worldwide app downloads sinking from around 16 million to just 10 million since around May. ![]() ## Flames Go Higher To be fair, it's not like the site's not-so-new owner has exactly helped things along. The Twitter of today is nearly unrecognizable from what it was a year ago, with [Musk changing its name to X](), or giving everybody who's willing to pay for a subscription a [blue verification checkmark](). News that he's considering [putting tweets behind a paywall]() likely hasn't done much to inspire user retention, either. Downloads aren't the only falling metrics, either. As the social media analytics firm [Similarweb found in its recent report](), X-formerly-Twitter is [down bad in every way possible](), from monthly active usage falling 14.8 percent globally and 17.8 percent in the US to web traffic falling over the last year as well. The news comes amid the [*Wall Street Journal*'s reporting]() that banks are [expected to take a 15 percent loss]() when selling the debt they accrued via Musk's $44 billion gamble. People familiar with the matter told the *WSJ* that the seven banks, which lent Musk $13 billion to finance his acquisition, are looking at a roughly $2 billion total loss. In official parlance, it looks like Twitter – OK, fine, X — [is in deep doo-doo](), and it's unclear how the ship can be steered away from its [impending iceberg of collapse](). Unless, of course, this was all part of Musk's plan all along, as some [have suggested](). **More on Twitter:** *[Elon Musk Says He Has No Intention of Pulling Out]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()