(Reuters) – Twitter Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk says new user signups on the social media platform are at an “all-time high” as it struggles with a mass exodus of advertisers and users fleeing other platforms due to concerns about verification and hate. speech
Signups averaged more than two million per day in the past seven days starting Nov. 16, up 66 percent from the same week in 2021, Musk said in a tweet late Saturday.
It also said that active minutes by users were at a record high, averaging almost 8 billion active minutes per day in the past seven days from November 15, a 30% increase compared to same week last year.
Hate speech impersonations decreased from November 13 compared to October last year.
Reported impersonations on the platform spiked earlier this month, before and after the launch of Twitter Blue, according to Musk.
Musk, who also runs rocket company SpaceX, brain chip startup Neuralink and tunneling company Boring Company, has said buying Twitter would accelerate his ambition to create an “everything app” called X.
Musk’s “Twitter 2.0 The Everything” app will have features such as encrypted direct messages (DMs), long-form tweets and payments, according to the tweet.
In another tweet early Sunday, Musk said he sees a “path to Twitter surpassing 1 billion monthly users in 12 to 18 months.”
Advertisers on Twitter, including major companies such as General Motors, Mondelez International, Volkswagen AG, have halted advertising on the platform as they grapple with the new boss.
Musk has said Twitter was experiencing a “massive drop in revenue” from advertisers pulling out, blaming a coalition of civil rights groups that has been pressuring the platform’s top advertisers to take action if it doesn’t protect content moderation.
Activists are calling on Twitter advertisers to make statements about pulling their ads from the social media platform after Musk lifted a ban on former US President Donald Trump’s tweets.
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Hundreds of Twitter employees are believed to have left the beleaguered company, following an ultimatum from Musk that employees sign up for “long, high-intensity hours” or leave.
The company in early November laid off half of its workforce, with teams responsible for communications, content curation, human rights and machine learning ethics, as well as some product and engineering teams.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bangalore; Editing by Kim Coghill)