X, the social media platform acquired by Elon Musk for 44 billion dollars in 2022, is experiencing a significant decline in user engagement, particularly in France. This downturn appears directly linked to Musk’s controversial leadership and policy changes, mirroring similar struggles faced by Tesla, which saw an 8.6% decrease in vehicle sales in 2025.
According to data released by Médiamétrie, X’s daily unique visitors in France have fallen by 21% in 2025, reaching 4.2 million. This places the platform in seventh position among social networks, trailing far behind Facebook (32.2 million, stable), Instagram (24.5 million, up 7%), and TikTok (10.2 million, up 5%). The decline began sharply in late 2024 and solidified throughout 2025, suggesting that calls for boycotts may have had a tangible effect.
The issues stem from a series of decisions made after Musk’s takeover of the platform, formerly known as Twitter. The removal of content moderation policies led to a surge in disinformation, hate speech, and illegal content. This prompted a wave of criticism and, the departure of prominent media organizations like Télérama and Le Monde in early 2025.
Further compounding the problems, French authorities raided X’s Paris offices in February 2026 as part of a preliminary investigation into allegations including the spread of child sexual abuse images and deepfakes. The investigation also centers on the platform’s handling of personal data related to its artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. Specifically, Grok was exploited by users to create non-consensual, sexually explicit deepfake images of individuals.
The European Commission is also investigating X over concerns related to Grok, assessing whether “manipulated sexually explicit images” have been shown to users within the EU. If found in violation of the Digital Services Act, X could face fines of up to 6% of its global annual turnover. Similar investigations are underway in the UK, Australia, France, and Germany.
Despite efforts by groups like the HelloQuitteX collective to encourage users to migrate to alternative platforms like Bluesky or Mastodon, these alternatives have yet to gain significant traction. Bluesky currently has fewer than 100,000 users, while Truth, launched by Donald Trump, has a negligible user base of 11,000. Threads, owned by Meta, shows modest growth with 1.2 million daily unique visitors in France, but remains far behind the established players.
Médiamétrie’s data indicates that 95% of X’s daily unique visitors do not also use Threads or Bluesky, suggesting limited migration to these alternative platforms. Social media and messaging apps remain a significant part of French internet usage, with an average of 1 hour and 13 minutes spent daily on these platforms. This figure is significantly higher for younger demographics, with 15-24 year olds spending an average of 3 hours and 1 minute per day on social media – representing 61% of their total internet usage.
The French government is also considering legislation to prohibit social media access for individuals under the age of 15. This proposal, currently under review by the National Assembly, could further impact X’s user base.
While X struggles, the use of artificial intelligence continues to rise. 44% of French internet users had utilized AI tools by December 2025, a 25-percentage-point increase year-over-year. However, OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains the dominant player in this space with 24.4 million users, despite growing competition from Google’s Gemini (4 million) and the French AI company Mistral AI (1.3 million). Interestingly, the increased use of AI has not yet significantly impacted the usage of traditional search engines, which continue to attract 39.7 million daily visitors, a 3% increase.
The situation highlights the complex interplay between platform policy, public perception, and regulatory scrutiny. X’s decline serves as a cautionary tale about the potential consequences of prioritizing radical changes over user safety and responsible content moderation.
