How many people use X (Twitter) in the UK? Is it really declining, and who still uses it? We analyzed the latest Ofcom data to answer the questions about X usage in Britain.
Reach & Decline
How Many People Use X (Twitter) in the UK? (2025)
X (formerly Twitter) reaches 39% of UK online adults. Reach declined from 45% in May 2024.
Monthly visitors fell 13% year-on-year. X remains the largest microblogging service in the UK despite ongoing decline.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025, Ipsos iris
Is X (Twitter) Declining in the UK? (2024-2025)
X average monthly adult reach declined from 27.9 million in 2021 to 22.2 million in 2024.
The platform lost 1.5 million users in 2022, 2.7 million in 2023, and 1.6 million in the first nine months of 2024.
Daily reach fell from 9.5 million in May 2023 to 8.6 million in May 2024. Both monthly and daily metrics show consistent decline.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024, Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025
Time Spent
How Much Time Do UK Adults Spend on X? (2025)
X users spend an average of 6 minutes per day on the service. That declined from 9 minutes in 2024 and 10 minutes in 2023.
68% of X time spent comes from men. The platform is heavily male-skewed in engagement.
Time spent is declining alongside reach. Users who remain are also spending less time on the platform.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025
Demographics
Who Uses X in the UK? (2025)
X is the only top 10 social media service where males predominate. 60% of X visitors are male.
68% of time spent on X comes from men, an even stronger male skew than the visitor composition.
This makes X unusual among major platforms. Most social media services skew female or are balanced.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025
News & Events
Is X Still Used for News in the UK? (2025)
X is one of the top 4 individual news sources used by UK adults.
X achieved its highest daily reach on July 5, 2024, the day after the UK General Election, with 9.8 million visitors (21% of adults).
News events still drive X usage spikes. The platform retains relevance for breaking news despite overall decline.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025, Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024
Online Harms
What About X and Online Harms? (2025)
X is the third platform most associated with potential online harm encounters at 14%. This fell from 18% in 2024.
Among 18 to 24 year olds, 23% encountered their most recent harm on X, higher than other age groups.
The decline in harm association may reflect both platform changes and declining usage overall.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025, Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024
Competitors
Are People Switching from X to Threads or Bluesky? (2025)
Threads reaches 9% of UK online adults, representing 4.3 million people. It peaked at 11% (5.3 million) in July 2024.
Bluesky reaches 6% of UK adults, about 2.7 million visitors. Bluesky grew from just 80,000 users in May 2024 to 461,000 by September 2024.
Competing platforms have relatively flat growth. X users leaving are not clearly moving to Threads or Bluesky in large numbers.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025, Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024
How Do X, Threads, and Bluesky Compare? (2024)
By September 2024, X reached 21.2 million (45%) and Threads reached 6.6 million (14%).
Bluesky grew 263% between May and September 2024, but from a very small base.
Threads average time spent was just 1 hour 26 minutes total in July 2024, suggesting light engagement compared to X.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024
- [Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025](https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/online-research/online-nation/2025/online-nations-report-2025.pdf)
- [Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024](https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/online-research/online-nation/2024/online-nation-2024-report.pdf)
- Ipsos iris