Zuckerberg vs Musk: Threads surpasses X in active users in 2026

The rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk has entered a new chapter in the battle for social media dominance. In early 2026, Threads, Meta’s text platform led by Zuckerberg, achieved a significant milestone: surpassing X in total global active users, confirming a shift in the social media landscape.

The meteoric rise of Threads under Zuckerberg’s leadership

According to data from Similarweb cited by Forbes, Threads has reached 320 million active users, with 143 million accessing the platform via mobile devices as of January 2026. The growth has been extraordinary: in December 2025, more than 30 million new users joined the platform.

Zuckerberg emphasized that this expansion was entirely organic, without aggressive investment in marketing campaigns. The seamless integration with Instagram has allowed millions of existing users to naturally migrate to Threads. In contrast, X has experienced a dramatic decline, with estimates showing an 11.9% year-over-year drop in daily active users.

Threads’ strategy has resonated especially with advertisers. The platform offers a significantly safer and more predictable environment for advertising campaigns compared to X. This difference has led to a mass migration of brands seeking to avoid the controversies surrounding Musk’s leadership on X. Analysts project that Threads could generate approximately $11.3 billion in annual revenue.

The platform battle between Musk and Zuckerberg

The competitive tension between Musk and Zuckerberg has manifested in various ways over the years, even escalating to public confrontations. However, their true rivalry lies in the technological arena, where both aim to set standards and dominate critical segments of the internet.

Since Musk acquired X in 2024 for $44 billion, the platform has faced significant challenges. Advertising revenue has fallen 13.7% year-over-year, generating only $2.5 billion in 2024. About 68% of X’s revenue comes from advertising, making it vulnerable to any fluctuations in advertiser confidence. The changes implemented under Musk’s leadership, along with various controversial decisions, have accelerated the exit of both users and advertising investors.

The social media ecosystem has also experienced turbulence on other platforms. Bluesky, which emerged as a direct alternative to X, grew from 10 million to 40 million users by late 2025. However, its daily active users dropped to 3.6 million, a 44.4% decrease year-over-year. This volatility suggests that simply rejecting X is not enough to ensure long-term success.

Despite Threads’ progress, X still maintains some strength in specific markets. In the United States, X still has 21.2 million mobile active users, slightly surpassing Threads with 19.5 million. However, this residual advantage does not offset the global losses nor halt the market reconfiguration led by Zuckerberg.