A YouGov survey has revealed that X (formerly Twitter)’s popularity rating has hit its lowest point in the two years since Elon Musk first expressed interest in buying the social media platform.
The poll, conducted August 14-15, revealed that more than four in ten (42%) people who use X every day have a negative view of it, rising to just over half (51%) of those who have used it before.
Only half (51%) of those who use X daily say they have a favorable view of the social media network, and when including all those who have ever used the service, that figure drops to 38%.
X-rated
The survey came after days of far-right riots and protests in the UK. Top British politicians, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, have accused X of spreading misinformation. Musk, who follows 195 million accounts on X, tweeted on August 7 that there would be a “civil war” in the UK.
There seems to be a widespread perception that X gives people too much freedom to post offensive or harmful content. This is by far the most widely shared opinion on the issue, with almost half of the public (48%) saying so, including 58% of X users and 62% of daily users, YouGov reports.
Only 12% of the general public think X strikes about the right balance between freedom and moderation, and only 5% think X’s content moderation is “too strict.” Users themselves are more likely to think the balance is about right (20%, compared to 24% of daily users), with only 6-7% thinking X is too strict.
X can’t shake off the old Twitter brand
Seven in ten Brits (70%) say they still refer to the platform generically as Twitter, with that figure rising to 80% among users. Among both the general public and user base, only 4-5% now primarily refer to the network as X, with another 12-14% saying they use both names.
When it comes to Musk, almost four times as many Brits have a negative view (64%) as those who have a positive view (17%).
The figures mark a significant drop from when YouGov first began surveying him in 2022, when Musk was first threatening to buy the company. The number of Brits who held a favourable view of Musk then was roughly the same as now (23%), but the number who actively disliked him was much smaller (40%).