Post by : Bianca
Haleem
Meta’s Threads platform has notched a significant achievement by surpassing Elon Musk’s X in daily mobile user numbers, as reported by market analyst Similarweb.
According to a TechCrunch article from Sunday, estimates from Similarweb indicate that Threads reached 141.5 million daily active users across Android and iOS by January 7, 2026. Meanwhile, X had about 125 million daily active users on its mobile apps during the same timeframe.
Conversely, when it comes to web usage, the scenario is different. Data highlighted by TechCrunch shows that X still leads in browser traffic. As of January 13, X garnered approximately 145.4 million daily web visits, while Threads managed a mere 8.5 million.
TechCrunch suggested that this shift is part of a gradual long-term trend rather than a sudden reaction to recent issues surrounding X. The report emphasized that Threads’ mobile growth has largely been fueled by Meta’s ability to attract users from its larger platforms, especially Instagram and Facebook, accompanied by ongoing feature enhancements to boost daily activity.
Threads is evolving beyond just a text feed by rolling out new tools and experiments. These initiatives include interest-targeted communities, superior content filtering, direct messaging options, long-form posting capabilities, disappearing posts, and reports of initial game tests within the app.
Meta has also highlighted its engagement successes in the past months. In August 2025, it was announced that Threads had achieved over 400 million monthly active users. Following that, TechCrunch revealed that Meta reported 150 million daily active users in October 2025.
This shift in usage comes as X confronts growing regulatory pressures regarding its AI chatbot, Grok, particularly concerning concerns over the creation of harmful or non-consensual sexual content. The issue of sexual deepfakes, including material involving minors, has caught the attention of regulators in several jurisdictions.
In California, Attorney General Rob Bonta has initiated an investigation into xAI’s Grok, centering on the dissemination of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfake materials targeting women and children, as noted by the California Department of Justice.
Additionally, in the UK, media regulator Ofcom has begun a formal inquiry into X under the Online Safety Act to determine if the platform is fulfilling its legal obligations to prevent illegal and harmful content.
According to TechCrunch, Similarweb’s analysis indicates that Threads’ upward trajectory is not simply the outcome of a singular user migration event but rather signifies a steady shift in user habits, with X continuing to perform strongly on the web while Threads gains traction as a go-to option for mobile users.
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