Meta’s Threads overtakes Elon Musk's X on mobile with 141 million daily users

Meta Platforms Inc.’s Threads has overtaken Elon Musk-owned X in daily mobile users, marking a significant shift in the social media landscape as X faces mounting scrutiny over its AI chatbot Grok and the spread of non-consensual explicit images.

Threads recorded 141.5 million daily active mobile users across iOS and Android, compared with 125 million daily active mobile users on X as of January 7, 2026, according to data from Similarweb. The figures underscore Threads’ growing momentum on smartphones, even as X continues to dominate desktop web traffic.

X still commands a far larger web audience, with 434.1 million monthly new website users globally, while Threads remains primarily an app-first platform with 737,505 monthly new users.

TechCrunch, which first reported the data, said the shift in mobile users reflects a longer-term adoption trend for Threads rather than being directly driven by X’s recent controversies.

The platform has been under global scrutiny after its Grok AI chatbot was used to generate and circulate non-consensual sexualised images of women and what appeared to be minors. The California attorney general has also opened an investigation into Grok.

At the same time, alternative X-style platforms are seeing a surge in interest. Bluesky, another microblogging app, recorded a sharp increase in iOS downloads as reports of AI-generated deepfakes on X began to surface, according to Appfigures.

X vs Threads: India web traffic

In India, X continues to enjoy an overwhelming lead on the web. Similarweb data for October to December 2025 shows X accounting for 99.9% of social microblogging web traffic, while Threads, which remains app-only, has just 0.1% of web traffic in the country.

Meta has aggressively pushed Threads through cross-promotion on Facebook and Instagram, helping the app scale rapidly.

In October 2025, the company said Threads had crossed 150 million daily active users globally, aided by frequent feature updates and tighter integration across Meta’s social platforms.