Elon Musk’s platform X, formerly Twitter, is now claiming to be the UK’s most popular news app — based on data from Grok, its own in-house artificial intelligence assistant.
In a recent post on X, Grok stated that the platform was “likely” the most viewed news source in the UK by June 2025, citing a figure of 60.6% of UK users turning to X for news. It also claimed the app had overtaken competitors such as BBC News and The Guardian in mobile downloads. However, Grok did not provide a detailed methodology or name independent data providers to support the figures.
The claims have nonetheless attracted attention given X’s turbulent performance since Musk’s $44 billion takeover in 2022. The platform saw a 30% fall in global user numbers and a 59% drop in advertising revenue by early 2023, according to Insider Intelligence. Multiple advertisers pulled campaigns over concerns about moderation standards and the reinstatement of banned accounts.
In the UK, major broadcasters including the BBC have reduced their activity on X amid growing concerns over misinformation and platform toxicity. The Guardian previously described X’s environment as “toxic,” questioning its suitability as a news source.
Yet the Grok statistics suggest X may be staging a comeback in terms of reach — at least among mobile users. The app recently topped the UK App Store charts for news, though these rankings fluctuate and are not solely indicative of long-term engagement.
Meanwhile, rival platforms are facing their own headwinds. Meta is under scrutiny for its AI chatbot’s privacy practices, after it was found to be displaying user information in unexpected ways. The company maintains that consent was obtained for data indexing, but privacy campaigners — including Calli Schroeder from the Electronic Privacy Information Center — warn that the implications for data protection remain serious.
Meta has also announced plans to roll out advertisements on WhatsApp — a move critics say could erode trust in one of the company’s last ad-free platforms.
TikTok is also in flux, with the US threatening to ban the app unless its Chinese owner ByteDance divests its American operations. The uncertainty has dented TikTok’s appeal as a stable platform for news and cultural content, especially among brands and institutional users.
These disruptions have prompted wider speculation about the direction of social media. The Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing antitrust case against Meta — aimed at potentially breaking up its ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp — is emblematic of a broader reckoning with platform power.
Some commentators have described this shift as a move toward “technodiversity” — a fragmentation of the old social media order into smaller, more decentralised ecosystems. For now, X is positioning itself as a renewed force in mobile news — even if, for now, it is the platform itself making the claim.
