FactHub

FactHub saved analysis

Platforms ranked by best available user figure

Roughly how many people use each platform worldwide?

Coverage: Latest available figure per platform, January 2025 to October 2026; Pew survey February to June 2025

Node: dataset:social-platform-size-2026:1:analysis:users-for-comparison

Contained in How big are the major social platforms? Users and US reach, 2026.

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What this dataset measures

Gives scale to a comparison of moderation rules across platforms: a policy at Facebook or YouTube reaches far more people than one at Bluesky or Mastodon. Covers the largest US platforms plus the alternatives promoted by politicians on the left and right.

Geography
Worldwide, United States
Unit of observation
One platform
Update cadence
Irregular
Curator
FactHub

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

  • build-size-dataset.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 17.7 KB (18,117 bytes)

    Script holding the curated figures and building this dataset.

  • dataset-parts.json Documentation · application/json · 16.2 KB (16,581 bytes)

    Sources, table definition and saved analyses for this dataset, as JSON.

Saved analyses

Platforms ranked by best available user figure

Question: Roughly how many people use each platform worldwide?

Result: Facebook: 3,070 million; Instagram: 3,000 million; YouTube: 2,530 million; TikTok: 1,590 million; X: 550 million; Reddit: 514.6 million; Threads: 500 million; Rumble: 56 million; Bluesky: 10.4 million; Mastodon: 0.7 million

Operation: For each platform, take users_monthly if present, otherwise users_low; sort descending. Truth Social is omitted (no figure).

Scope: Ten platforms with a figure; dates and measures differ.

View this analysis

  • Not like-for-like: monthly users, weekly users, ad reach and mobile-only estimates are combined for a sense of scale only.
  • A log scale is needed to chart all platforms.

Sources

  1. Pew Research Center: Social Media Fact Sheet (2025 survey, fielded Feb. 5 to June 18, 2025, 5,022 U.S. adults) Primary: share of U.S. adults who ever use each platform

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

    Archived copy captured October 10, 2026

  2. Pew Research Center: Americans' Social Media Use 2025 (November 20, 2025) Primary: report accompanying the fact sheet

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

    Archived copy captured October 10, 2026

  3. Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results Primary: Facebook monthly active users

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

    Archived copy captured October 3, 2026

  4. Neowin: Instagram joins the 3 billion monthly active club (September 2025) Secondary: report of Mark Zuckerberg's announcement

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

  5. DataReportal: Essential YouTube statistics Secondary: YouTube advertising reach from Google ad-planning data

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

  6. DataReportal: Essential TikTok statistics Secondary: TikTok advertising reach from ad-planning data

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

  7. SpaceX free writing prospectus filed with the SEC (May 2026) Primary: X and Grok monthly active users as of March 31, 2026

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

    Archived copy captured October 10, 2026

  8. Reddit Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results (SEC Form 8-K exhibit) Primary: daily and weekly active uniques

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

    Archived copy captured October 10, 2026

  9. Social Media Today: Threads reaches 500 million user milestone (June 2026) Secondary: report of Meta's announcement

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

    Archived copy captured October 10, 2026

  10. Rumble first quarter 2026 results (SEC Form 8-K exhibit, May 14, 2026) Primary: average global monthly active users

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

    Archived copy captured October 10, 2026

  11. TechCrunch: Bluesky's active user base is shrinking (August 11, 2026), citing Similarweb Secondary: Similarweb estimates for Bluesky, X and Threads

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

    Archived copy captured October 1, 2026

  12. GV Wire (New York Times): Traffic to Trump's Truth Social falls sharply this summer (August 10, 2026), citing Similarweb Secondary: Similarweb visit estimates for Truth Social

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

  13. Mastodon project statistics API Primary: daily server, account and active-user counts

    Retrieved October 10, 2026. Publisher copyright; figures reproduced as facts. Figures extracted; source not redistributed

Limitations and reproducibility

Reproducible from cited sources: Each figure is copied from the cited source; Pew percentages are the 2025 row of the Social Media Fact Sheet table, read on 2026-10-10. No calculations beyond sorting.

  • Figures are not comparable measures. They mix company-reported monthly users, a combined X-and-Grok figure, weekly users (Reddit), advertising reach (YouTube, TikTok), mobile-only third-party estimates (Bluesky) and web visits (Truth Social). value_type and metric say which is which.
  • Most company figures are self-reported and unaudited; announcements (Instagram, Threads) are not filings.
  • Monthly users are worldwide; Pew percentages are US adults only.
  • Dates differ by up to two years across platforms; Facebook's last per-app figure is from December 2023.
  • Truth Social publishes no user count, and no credible independent monthly-user estimate was found.
  • Mastodon's figure covers servers that report to the Mastodon project, not every server in the network.
  • Pew did not report figures for Rumble or Mastodon.

Publications using this dataset

Version details

The exact citing versions, and the version of this dataset each cites.

  • Article x-most-permissive-social-network — version 5 (published) cites version 1