Twitter users plummet by a FIFTH in US last year as tweeters complain of an overly-aggressive algorithm and too many TikTok-style animal videos since site was rebranded as 'X'

Globally, Daily Active X Users dropped from 141M to 120M in 2023 (13.5%)In US, user base has fallen more sharply between Oct 22 and Oct 23 (19%)Researchers also found a 16.5% decline in traffic to X's advertiser dashboardREAD MORE: Elon Musk blames SEC for fake Bitcoin tweet - alleging the US financial watchdog had not set up a basic security feature its official X account

Twitter’s American user base has plummeted by nearly a fifth in just one year — losing about 300 million US visits per month — amid reports that the app has become deluged in ‘unmarked, spammy ads,’ and an ‘insane number of cat videos.’

DailyMail.com has heard from several frequent users that the algorithm has become ‘extremely strong’ with the social media site becoming a much less reliable aggregator of breaking news.

Others said they are seeing record numbers of tweets from people they don’t follow, and are not interested in, compared to the era before the site was rebranded ‘X.’

And the anecdotes appear to be backed up by user polls, data analytics reports and repeated user ‘posts’ (formerly ‘tweets’) voicing similar experiences.

But Musk has nevertheless blazed ahead with plans to transform the microblogging site, which he acquired in October 2022 for $44 billion, into an ‘everything app’ akin to Chinese app WeChat.

Longtime Twitter users are joining advertisers in their mass departure from Elon Musk ‘s rebranded version of the site, X. In the US, traffic to the social media site has plummeted by nearly one fifth, losing 19 percent of visits, year-to-year, in 2023, according to Similarweb

Worldwide too, users are getting out of the habit of visiting Musk’s version of Twitter — which had once been the go-to destination for ‘crowdsourced’ breaking news: month over month (MoM) ‘Daily Active Users’ (DAU) have dropped from 141 million to 120 million on X (above)

Twitter ‘s American user base has plummeted amid reports that the app has become deluged in ‘unmarked, spammy ads,’ ‘extremism’ and an ‘insane number of cat videos’

Although the billionaire has announced a ‘peer-to-peer payments’ system for X users in 2024, with traffic to the plummeting, it is an open question what ‘peers’ will still be logging onto X for financial transaction by year’s end.

X lost roughly 19 percent of visits from its US userbase alone over 2023, according to Similarweb.

Given that the site nets a quarter of its total traffic from the United States, that means X has lost anywhere from 300-to-328 million site visits each month from America alone.

And Worldwide too, users are getting out of the habit of visiting the site — which had once been the go-to destination for ‘crowdsourced’ breaking news: ‘Daily Active App Users’ have dropped from 141 million to 120 million (13.5 percent), based on a study by Apptopia.

But the dip in user visits was less pronounced overseas.

Traffic from the United Kingdom dropped only 11.6 percent; traffic from France, down 13.4 percent; traffic from Germany down 17.9 percent; and Australian traffic trending similarly, dropping 17.5 percent, according to Similarweb.

A poll conducted by Research Co. and Glacier Media in Canada identified some of the core reasons users are fleeing X.

The valuation was downgraded for the second time by Fidelity, which helped Musk purchase the platform when it was still known as Twitter

But Elon Musk – the company’s owner and self-described Chief Troll Officer – has blazed ahead with plans to transform the microblogging site into an ‘everything app’ akin to Chinese app WeChat announcing a ‘peer-to-peer payments’ system for 2024

Among the most popular complaints, four topped the poll: extremism (14 percent), ‘fake news’ (14 percent), ‘toxicity’ (12 percent) and advertising (12 percent).

Users also blamed racism (six percent), bad updates (five percent), a lack of local news in their algorithm (five percent), and Elon Musk directly (five percent).

While there has been a general retraction in traffic to all social media sites and online communities, down 3.7 percent, year over year, as of this past September, the double-digit drops experienced by Musk’s X are notable outliers.

And some of its competitors are thriving, including China’s micro-video app TikTok which enjoyed a 22.8 percent year-over-year spike as of this September.

Similarweb found a 16.5 percent decline in traffic to the site’s advertiser dashboard, which means that fewer advertisers are bothering to check metrics on the platform or place new ads.

To date, less than 54 advertisers remain of X’s 100 biggest ad buyers, according to data from Sensor Tower.

The mutual fund Fidelity, which helped finance Musk’s Twitter takeover and now holds a sizeable stake in X Holdings, has now marked down the value of its X shares 71.5 percent.

The slashing of nearly three-quarters of the site’s value would mean that the social platform has gone from being worth $44 billion in October 2022, when Musk acquired it, to approximately just $12.5 billion. 

In September, Musk had estimated an even more dire scenario, stating that X’s advertising revenue in the US had fallen by 60 percent since his purchase.

By his math, he said, X could be worth just $4 billion.

But the story of the legacy social media site’s decline is perhaps best told by the angry posts of its frustrated users. 

One user, Rajneesh Jain, posted directly to Musk, ‘If you and [your] stupid algorithms are soo interested in pushing down our throats tweets containing videos of dogs and cats, then why don’t you fill your @twitter offices with them?’

Another user, who had primarily used to site to keep tabs on comic book culture, complained, ‘My TL [timeline] is flooded and invaded by garbage.’ 

‘I am not a cat person yet the #AI keeps showing cat related #Tweets #Post,’ one user said, echoing another’s complaint about the ‘insane number of cat videos.’ 

Another user, who had primarily used to site to keep tabs on comic book culture, complained, ‘My TL [timeline] is flooded and invaded by garbage’

‘I am not a cat person yet the #AI keeps showing cat related #Tweets #Post,’ one user said

In the past 30 days, ‘verified’ bot accounts were found to have auto-replied to another X account with ChatGPT’s now infamous automated non-response: ‘ I’m sorry, but I cannot complete this request as it goes against OpenAI’s use case policy’

Elsewhere online, Reddit users have complained of X’s ‘unmarked, spammy ads.’

Several more systemic issues appear to have led to the dramatic reversal of what was once Twitter’s fortunes.

Critics have cited Musk’s gutting of the company’s staff; his willingness to re-platform a variety of controversial figures, including bankrupted ‘Sandy Hook truther’ Alex Jones; his own inflammatory posts; and questionable rebranding exercises in Twitter’s ongoing decline as X.

Last summer, X admitted it was struggling with ‘verified’ spam bot accounts benefiting from the site’s new pay-to-play verification system.

And this month, data analytics firm Fedica identified 202 bot accounts posted apparently synced up directly to OpenAI’s ChatGPT on the sly.

In the past 30 days, each account was found to have auto-replied to another X account with ChatGPT’s now infamous automated non-response: ‘I’m sorry, but I cannot complete this request as it goes against OpenAI’s use case policy.’

As Musk critic, writer and former Media Matters editor-at-large Parker Molloy put it, posting a video of the ChatGPT bot problem to Instagram’s X ‘alternative’ Threads, ‘Twitter is a ghost town.’

And, as TechCrunch. noted while covering the issue, ‘Many bots and bot farms are run without OpenAI’s assistance, and are harder to detect.’

But it’s not all bad news for Musk’s burgeoning ‘everything app.’

Year-over-year traffic to Elon Musk’s own profile on the platform and the billionaire’s frequent posts — according to Similarweb’s September analysis — have rocketed up under his guidance an estimated 96 percent.