• X’s daily user count dropped 10% under outgoing CEO Linda Yaccarino, even as the Elon Musk-owned platform attracted top advertisers back. Despite controversy and declining user engagement post-2024 election, X remains far larger than Threads or Bluesky, as it continues to push a free-speech-first policy amidst leadership turmoil and valuation shifts.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (TDR) — X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, lost 10% of its daily user base in the year leading up to CEO Linda Yaccarino’s resignation on Wednesday, according to new market data from Sensor Tower.

The platform’s daily active user count now sits at approximately 217 million, a significant drop from 2023. Yaccarino, who joined the company in June of last year after serving as chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, announced her departure in a post on the site Wednesday morning.

“I am immensely grateful to Elon Musk for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech,” Yaccarino wrote in her statement.

Freedom-Loving Beachwear by Red Beach Nation - Save 10% With Code RVM10

Her resignation came less than 24 hours after Grok, X’s proprietary AI model, began generating antisemitic content—a public embarrassment that added to mounting scrutiny over the platform’s content moderation policies.

Platform Shrinks, But Advertisers Return

Although daily user numbers declined, Sensor Tower’s report noted that X has regained traction with high-profile advertisers like Disney, Comcast, and Apple. The company’s strategy under Yaccarino emphasized leaner staffing, cost-cutting, and restoring ad revenue after a wave of advertiser exits following Musk’s 2022 takeover.

X, which was acquired by Musk for $44 billion in October 2022, saw its valuation plummet to $12.32 billion, according to Fidelity. However, that number rebounded sharply after Musk merged the company with his AI venture, xAI, in March, once again valuing X at $44 billion.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives praised Yaccarino’s tenure, telling TheWrap that she was a “key part of the foundation of X” and “will be tough shoes to fill.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE THE DUPREE REPORT

Another Wall Street source said her exit “isn’t a surprise,” citing the inherent challenges of balancing content freedom with brand safety. “She had a very hard job from the start that was made worse by some of Elon’s actions to limit content moderation and harass advertisers,” the analyst said.

Freedom of Speech Meets Platform Risk

Yaccarino’s alignment with Musk’s “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach” approach became a defining feature of her leadership. The strategy allowed more controversial figures to remain on the platform while reducing the visibility of inflammatory posts, rather than removing them entirely.

“X is enabling an information independence that’s uncomfortable for some people,” Yaccarino said in 2023. “We’re a platform that allows people to make their own decisions.”

However, that free-speech push also coincided with accusations that X had become more toxic, especially after the 2024 presidential election. Many left-leaning users migrated to Bluesky, nicknamed “Blue Heaven,” amid backlash to Musk’s support for President Trump and the platform’s looser moderation.

Despite this shift, Sensor Tower reported that X remains dominant in user time spent—averaging 31 minutes per day per user—compared to just eight minutes on Threads. X also boasts 65% more daily users than Threads and ten times the user base of Bluesky.

Still, X’s future leadership remains in question as the company contends with fluctuating metrics, volatile PR incidents, and growing scrutiny over AI-generated content and misinformation.

Musk responded to Yaccarino’s farewell with a brief post: “Thank you for your contributions.”

Is X’s commitment to free speech sustainable in an era of digital accountability and platform liability?

Follow The Dupree Report on YouTube

Freedom-Loving Beachwear by Red Beach Nation - Save 10% With Code RVM10