Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads close to surpassing Elon Musk’s X in daily users, data shows

Mark Zuckerberg’s “Twitter killer” app is poised for the kill.

Threads — which launched in 2023 as Zuckerberg sought to directly compete with his longtime rival Elon Musk — moved within striking distance of overtaking X, the site formerly known as Twitter, according to data compiled by market research firm Similarweb and reported by TechCrunch on Tuesday.

Threads had 115.1 million daily active users across Apple iOS and Android in June, compared to 132 million users for Musk’s social media site, which he bought in 2022. according to the data.

X’s daily active users for June marked a 15.2% decline compared to the same month one year ago, the data showed. Threads, meanwhile, saw a 127.8% year-over-year spike.

Another competitor, the decentralized social media network Bluesky, remained a distant third.

The app had just 4.1 million daily active users in June, though that number was up 372.5% year-over-year.

While the competition is heating up on mobile devices, X still has a significant advantage on desktop usage. X had 145.8 billion average daily web visits last month, dwarfing Threads’ tally of just 6.9 million and Bluesky’s total of 5.3 million, according to SimilarWeb data.

Zuckerberg’s decision to debut Threads initially escalated a long-running feud between him and Musk. The two billionaires nearly held a UFC-style cage match after Musk took exception with the product launch.

Zuckerberg, a mixed-martial arts enthusiast, called off the planned bout in August 2023, claiming that Musk wasn’t serious about getting into the ring.

Musk has complained about the stark similarities between X and Threads – and at one point even threatened to take legal action against Zuckerberg.

No lawsuit has surfaced so far.