Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has experienced a significant decline in its European user base, losing approximately 11 million users since August 2024, according to recent reports. This downturn coincides with increased scrutiny from European regulators over the platform’s content moderation policies.
Data submitted under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) indicates that X’s European user base has decreased by 10.5%, dropping from about 105 million to 94 million users. Countries such as France, Poland, Germany, and Spain have seen the most notable declines.
The European Commission has initiated investigations into X’s compliance with the DSA, focusing on the platform’s handling of illegal content and disinformation. These regulatory actions reflect broader concerns about X’s content moderation practices under Musk’s leadership.
In response to these developments, several European institutions have ceased their activities on X. The European Medicines Agency, for instance, announced its departure from the platform, citing concerns over content moderation. Similarly, Germany’s foreign and defense ministries have moved their communications to alternative platforms.
But X’s problems extend beyond Europe. According to a Financial Times analysis, X’s daily active users in the U.S. have decreased by approximately 20% over the past 16 months. In the U.K., the drop is even more pronounced, with a decline of about one-third in daily active users during the same period.
While X did experience a temporary surge in traffic and a return of some advertisers following Donald Trump’s election in November 2024, this uptick was short-lived. Analysts project that the platform will continue to lose users throughout this year.
These trends suggest that the challenges X faces are not confined to the EU but are part of a broader pattern of declining user engagement across multiple key markets.
