X, formerly known as Twitter, is a digital microblogging platform where users can post, read, and exchange short messages. First launched in 2006, it has evolved from a text-based service emphasizing brevity into a full-featured, ad-supported social media platform boasting over 557 million monthly active users, approximately 4 billion monthly visits, and an estimated 500 million tweets sent daily.
From the outset, Twitter's defining feature was its 140-character limit, inspired by the space constraints of text messaging. Twitter's publicly available stream of tweets from millions of users helped shape culture and political discourse through real-time user interactions. In 2010, the platform began to monetize through promoted tweets, accounts, and trends.
SpaceX and Tesla cofounder Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 for $44B. Under Musk, Twitter underwent significant changes, including layoffs of thousands of workers, the introduction of a paid subscription model, and a rebranding as X. Content moderation has become a considerable challenge for the site, and the ease of creating multiple accounts has enabled automated accounts—known as bots—to falsely legitimize specific profiles, perspectives, or ideas.
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Elon Musk renamed the platform as part of his plan to create an app that goes beyond posts and tweets. The rebrand included a new name, logo, and vision for a platform that offers messaging, video, banking, shopping, and more.
What began as a way to share 140-character updates quickly grew into a vital platform for activism, politics, and pop culture. Hashtags, trending topics, and retweets—now common across the internet—originated on the platform.
Twitter began in 2006 as a side project and grew into a major global platform, widely used for news, activism, and political discourse. Despite mainstream success, it faced ongoing management turmoil, business struggles, and rising concerns over misinformation and user safety.
On Jan. 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 lost both engines after hitting birds and was safely landed in the Hudson River. The event was a turning point for Twitter, as a photo and a tweet quickly spread—marking Twitter’s rise as a real-time news source.
X, formerly Twitter, may now face more competition from rival social networks than ever, but it also had over 650 million active users as of early 2025. Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and Cristiano Ronaldo led the list of most-followed accounts then.
When Twitter launched in 2006, it featured green, slimy lettering and lacked the now-famous bird icon. The bird was adopted in 2010 and eventually became the platform’s official logo—unofficially named Larry after NBA legend Larry Bird.
Public outrage over Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition misses the point that the social platform has long failed to address hate speech, not just under Musk’s ownership. Over 150,000 mentions of “leaving Twitter” were recorded over the weekend following Musk’s takeover.
Accusations of censorship and bias have led social media companies like Meta and X to scale back or abandon moderation tools—just as foreign propaganda surges. Researchers say their ability to track manipulation online has become severely limited.
Laying off 80% of X's workforce, says Musk, was required to avoid a financial collapse within months of him purchasing the platform. In 2023, he claimed X would be cash-flow positive within the year as advertisers returned to the platform.
For a week in August 2024, Musk posted 650 times, including reactions to far-right influencers; promotion of his AI tool, Grok; and support for controversial political takes. He livestreamed himself playing Diablo IV for hours during that same week.
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