A new market intelligence report suggests that Threads is now more popular than X on iPhone and Android, although X still has a strong overall lead when web usage is taken into account.
Separately, the controversy over Grok generating non-consensual explicit images – including CSAM – has intensified, as xAI is now being sued by the mother of one of Elon Musk’s children …
Threads more popular than X on mobile
TechCrunch cites data from Similarweb indicating that Threads now has more daily active users on mobile than X.
Similarweb’s data shows that Threads had 141.5 million daily active users on iOS and Android as of January 7, 2026, after months of growth, while X has 125 million daily active users on mobile devices.
This mostly appears to be a longer-term trend rather than a reaction to the controversy over Grok’s non-consensual image generation – though as Bluesky has also seen an increase in app installs over the past week or so, it’s likely that this is playing some role.
One likely factor in the growing popularity of Threads is that parent company Meta has been heavily promoting it on Instagram.
However, with web usage factored in, X retains a strong lead over its newer competitors.
Grok CSAM controversy intensifies
After xAI’s Grok chatbot has been found to be generating non-consensual semi-nude images of real individuals, including children, three US senators called on Apple and Google to temporarily remove both X and Grok from the App Store due to “sickening content generation.”
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