Twitter to lose 32 million users by 2024 after Elon Musk's takeover, most from US: Report

Twitter is estimated to lose more than 32 million users in the next two years, according to a latest forecast by the market research agency Insider Intelligence. The exit of the massive number of users is predicted to be fuelled by technical issues and users' heightened fear of offensive content after Elon Musk's takeover, The Guardian reported citing the forecast. 

"There won’t be one catastrophic event that ends Twitter,” Jasmine Enberg, a principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, said as per The Guardian. “Instead, users will start to leave the platform next year as they grow frustrated with technical issues and the proliferation of hateful or other unsavoury content,'' she further stated. According to the agency, Twitter's global monthly user base will decline by nearly 4% in 2023 followed by 5% in 2024, which would together make up over 32 million of total users.

These predictions were made after a 12-year-long analysis which began when the agency started tracking Twitter in 2008. This, however, contradicts Musk's prediction of Twitter exceeding the billion users mark in just 12-18 months. 

'Twitter to lose most number of users from the US'

Out of the 32 million, around 8.2 million users are expected to leave Twitter from the US alone in the next two years, which makes the highest of the share. Owing to the "more unstable and less pleasant" experiences on Twitter, the number of users in US will drop to 50.5 million which would be the lowest level since 2014, The Guardian reported. Users from the United Kingdom will also ditch the platform as the number will drop to 12.6 million after the exit of 1.6 million Twitteratis over the next two years. 

Notably, several prominent personalities, including musicians and artists, have left Twitter or are threatening to leave it after Musk acquired the platform for $44 billion earlier this year. The most recent known figure is legendary singer Elton John who announced his exit on December 9. "I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked," the singer tweeted to which Musk replied, "I love your music. Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you’re concerned about?"

Musk's monetising the platform might also be another reason as the billionaire has now relaunched Twitter Blue with new features for those who are willing to pay.

Image: AP