X Has Bad Timing With Tech Issues Thursday After Rival Threads Reports 100M Users: Inside The Struggles Of Elon Musk's Company In 2023

Meta Platforms META reported third-quarter financial results on Wednesday and shared an update on its Threads social media platform.

Many Twitter users were likely posting on Twitter, now known as X, Thursday morning in response to the potential "Twitter killer." There was just one problem. Most of the tweets weren't visible.

What Happened: Social media platform X was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022 for $44 billion. Since the acquisition was completed, X has had its share of changes and also its share of drama.

On Thursday, X users reported problems with the platform with many people unable to see tweets made by accounts they follow when clicking on individual profiles.

A look at DownDetector showed the highest level of issues reported was between 9 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. ET, a key time for social media users interested in the stock market.

Benzinga independently verified the issues and was unable to see posts made from several accounts and users were unable to view all the posts made by the @benzinga account.

The issue Thursday came after Meta Platforms shared it had just under 100 million monthly active users on Threads. While this number is smaller than X, it is also likely larger than many X users and Meta critics were expecting to hear.

Zuckerberg also said he believed Threads could someday hit one billion users.

"I think that if we keep at this for a few more years, then I think we have a good chance of achieving our vision there," Zuckerberg said.

After suffering a drop in users, Threads may have come roaring back and could be seeing increased usage from users who have left X or are upset at changes made by Musk.

Issues still facing X users are potential bans or de-boosting due to content posted, the amount of content posted or the accounts it is replying to. A third-party site showed the Benzinga account is currently suffering from a "ghost ban."

In December 2022, Musk said X was working on an update that would show users why they had been shadowbanned, but the feature has not rolled out yet and users are left guessing if they face an unfortunate ban.

A report from Axios on Thursday said download figures are down for X, falling 38% globally from Oct. 2022 to Sept. 2023. A chart shows downloads, which were typically around 14 million monthly hitting 10 million in September.

While downloads don't equate to usage and can slow down as platforms mature. Axios also reported usage was down with data from SimilarWeb showing monthly active users down 14.8% globally and 17.8% in the U.S. for the month of September on a year-over-year basis.

Reports also showed time spent per user was down in the third quarter. High churn for X with users leaving the app had also increased in September.

Related Link: Meta Platforms Q3 Earnings Highlights: Revenue Up 23% YoY, New Guidance, Facebook User Growth And More

Why It's Important: X CEO Linda Yaccarino said the platform has "half a billion users" with users visiting the platform multiple times a day.  

There are also concerns over the number of advertisers who have left the platform, an item that could continue with concerns over the spread of misinformation during the recent Middle East conflict.

X faces a potential ban or fines in Europe over failing to adhere to content rules.

One big test going forward could be the rollout of a plan to charge new users on X $1 annually, a move Musk said could help get rid of bot accounts. The move could also backfire and lead to fewer and fewer new users, which when combined with the high churn could mean lower user figures and engagement.

There have been many bright spots for X since Musk's acquisition last year. For many users, the negatives are outweighing the positives.

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