About X (Twitter)
X, formerly known as Twitter,[b] is an American microblogging and social networking service, headquartered in Bastrop, Texas. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites.[3][4] Users can share short text messages, images, and videos in short posts (commonly and unofficially known as "tweets", in reference to the site's former terminology for the format) and like other users' content.[5] The platform also includes direct messaging, video and audio calling, bookmarks, lists, communities, Grok chatbot integration, job search,[6] and a social audio feature (X Spaces). Users can vote on context added by approved users using the Community Notes feature.
The platform was created in March 2006 as Twitter by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, and was launched in July of that year; initially named twttr, it was renamed Twitter some months later. The platform grew quickly; by 2012 more than 100 million users produced 340 million daily tweets.[7] Twitter, Inc., was based in San Francisco, California, and had more than 25 offices around the world.[8] A signature characteristic of the service initially was that posts were required to be brief. Posts were initially limited to 140 characters, which was changed to 280 characters in 2017. The limitation was removed for subscribed accounts in 2023.[9] 10% of users produce over 80% of tweets.[10][11] In 2020, it was estimated that approximately 48 million accounts (15% of all accounts) were run by Internet bots rather than humans.[12]
The service is owned by the American company X Corp., which was established to succeed the prior owner Twitter, Inc. in March 2023 following the October 2022 acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk for US$44 billion. Musk stated that his goal with the acquisition was to promote free speech on the platform. Since his acquisition, the platform has been criticized for enabling the increased spread of disinformation[13][14][15] and hate speech[16][17][18][19] and accused of becoming increasingly right-wing and catering to hate groups.[20][21][22][23] The platform has the lowest rate of enforcement against violations of law, and its policies after Musk fired Twitter-era employees, have faced criticism. In February 2026, France raided X offices and issued an arrest warrant for Musk for violating the Digital Services Act, Online Safety Act, and Australia's Online Safety Act, and fined the platform for failing to remove harmful and illegal content.[24][25][26]
Linda Yaccarino succeeded Musk as CEO on June 5, 2023, with Musk remaining as the chairman and the chief technology officer.[27][28][29] In July 2023, Musk announced that Twitter would be rebranded to "X" and the bird logo would be retired, a process which was completed by May 2024.[30][31] In March 2025, X Corp. was acquired by xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company. The deal, an all-stock transaction, valued X at $33 billion, with a full valuation of $45 billion when factoring in $12 billion in debt. xAI, in turn, was valued at $80 billion.[32][33] In July 2025, Yaccarino stepped down from her role as CEO.[34] In February 2026, the platform's owner, xAI, was acquired by SpaceX; this marked the sixth time where the social media platform has changed hands and the third time under Musk's ownership.[35][36]
History
2006–2021
Jack Dorsey claims to have introduced the idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate to a small group in 2006.[37] The original project code name for the service was Twttr, an idea that Evan Williams later ascribed to Noah Glass,[38] inspired by Flickr and the five-character length of American SMS short codes. The decision was also partly due to the fact that the domain twitter.com was already in use, and it was six months after the launch of Twttr that the crew purchased the domain and changed the name of the service to Twitter.[39] Work on the project started in February 2006.[40]
| We wanted to capture that in the name—we wanted to capture that feeling: the physical sensation that you're buzzing your friend's pocket. It's like buzzing all over the world. So we did a bunch of name-storming, and we came up with the word "twitch", because the phone kind of vibrates when it moves. But "twitch" is not a good product name because it doesn't bring up the right imagery. So we looked in the dictionary for words around it, and we came across the word "twitter", and it was just perfect. The definition was "a short burst of inconsequential information," and "chirps from birds." And that's exactly what the product was. | — Jack Dorsey[41] |
The first Twitter prototype, developed by Dorsey and contractor Florian Weber, was used as an internal service for Odeo employees.[40] The full version was introduced publicly on July 15, 2006.[42] In October 2006, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Dorsey, and other members of Odeo formed Obvious Corporation and acquired Odeo from the investors and shareholders.[43] Williams fired Glass, who was silent about his part in Twitter's startup until 2011.[44] Twitter spun off into its own company in April 2007.[45] The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference. During the event, Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.[46]
The company experienced rapid initial growth thereafter. In 2009, Twitter won the "Breakout of the Year" Webby Award.[47][48] In February 2010, Twitter users were sending 50 million tweets per day.[49] By March 2010, the company recorded over 70,000 registered applications.[50] In June 2010, about 65 million tweets were posted each day, equaling about 750 tweets sent each second, according to Twitter.[51] As noted on compete.com, Twitter moved up to the third-highest-ranking social networking site in January 2009 from its previous rank of twenty-second.[52]
From September through October 2010, the company began rolling out "New Twitter", an entirely revamped edition of twitter.com. Changes included the ability to see pictures and videos without leaving Twitter itself by clicking on individual tweets which contain links to images and clips from a variety of supported websites, including YouTube and Flickr, and a complete overhaul of the interface.[53] In 2019, Twitter was announced to be the 10th most downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019.[53]
On March 21, 2012, Twitter celebrated its sixth birthday by announcing that it had 140 million users, a 40% rise from September 2011, who were sending 340 million tweets per day.[54][55] On June 5, 2012, a modified logo was unveiled through the company blog, removing the text to showcase the slightly redesigned bird as the sole symbol of Twitter.[56][57] On December 18, 2012, Twitter announced it had surpassed 200 million monthly active users.[58] In September 2013, the company's data showed that 200 million users sent over 400 million tweets daily, with nearly 60% of tweets sent from mobile devices.[59]
In April 2014, Twitter underwent a redesign that made the site resemble Facebook somewhat, with a profile picture and biography in a column left to the timeline, and a full-width header image with parallax scrolling effect.[c][60] Late in 2015, it became apparent that growth had slowed, according to Fortune,[61] Business Insider,[62] Marketing Land[63] and other news websites including Quartz (in 2016).[64] In 2019, Twitter released another redesign of its user interface.[65] By the start of 2019, Twitter had more than 330 million monthly active users.[66] Twitter then experienced considerable growth during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[67] The platform also was increasingly used for misinformation related to the pandemic.[68] Twitter started marking tweets which contained misleading information, and adding links to fact-checks.[69]
In 2021, Twitter began the research phase of Bluesky, an open source decentralized social media protocol where users can choose which algorithmic curation they want.[70][71] The same year, Twitter also released Twitter Spaces, a social audio feature;[72][73] "super follows", a way to subscribe to creators for exclusive content;[74] and a beta of "ticketed Spaces", which makes access to certain audio rooms paid.[75] Twitter unveiled a redesign in August 2021, with adjusted colors and a new Chirp font, which improves the left-alignment of most Western languages.
Since 2022
Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022; Musk acted as CEO of Twitter until June 2023 when he was succeeded by Linda Yaccarino.[76][77] Twitter was rebranded to X on July 23, 2023,[78] and its domain name changed from twitter.com to x.com on May 17, 2024.[79] Yaccarino resigned on July 9, 2025.[80]
Now operating as X, the platform closely resembles its predecessor but includes additional features such as long-form texts,[81] account monetization options,[82] audio-video calls,[83] integration with xAI's Grok chatbot,[84] job search,[85] and a repurposing of the platform's verification system as a subscription premium.[86] Several legacy Twitter features were removed from the site after Musk acquired Twitter, including Circles,[87] NFT profile pictures,[88] and the experimental pronouns in profiles feature.[89] Musk's aims included transforming X into a "digital town square" and an "everything app" akin to WeChat.[90]
Twitter/X has faced significant controversy under Musk's ownership. Issues such as the release of the Twitter Files, suspension of ten journalists' accounts, and labeling media outlets as "state-affiliated" and restricting their visibility have sparked criticism.[91][92] Despite Musk stepping down as CEO, the platform continues to struggle with challenges such as viral misinformation,[93] hate speech (especially antisemitism), and child pornography.[94][95][96] In response to allegations it deemed unfair, X Corp. has pursued legal action against nonprofit organizations Media Matters and the Center for Countering Digital Hate.[91][97]