The advertising revenue of X (formerly Twitter) remains significantly below its pre-acquisition peak, with new disclosures suggesting the platform’s recovery has been slower and more uneven than previously reported.
The latest figures, outlined in an investor note by analysts, Madison and Wall, cited SpaceX’s S-1 filing, which indicates X generated US $2.3 billion (AUD A$3.22 billion) in advertising revenue in 2023, followed by US $1.7 billion in 2024 and US $1.8 billion in 2025.
That is well below the $4.7 billion in the final four quarters of Twitter’s last year as a public company, highlighting the scale of decline since Elon Musk’s acquisition and the platform’s rebrand.
The note also suggests X’s share of the US digital advertising market has fallen sharply, now accounting for around 1 per cent in Q1 2026, down from nearly 10 per cent in 2016.
“X’s ad business is still significantly below that of Twitter’s business from before it was taken private,” the investor note said.
Before Musk took the company private, Twitter’s advertising business was growing at double-digit rates, with revenue up 21 per cent across its final four public quarters.
When Musk acquired the platform, he stripped it from brand safety features and oversight, and started promoting Donald Trump and far right conspiracy theories, leading to an exodus of advertisers.
X hired former NBCUniversal sales boss Linda Yaccarino as CEO in 2023 to lure advertisers back to the plat5form, but she had limited success in the role and stepped down in July 2025, a couple of months after X was acquired by Musk’s artificial intelligence start-up xAI.
The investor commentary also noted a temporary decline in ad revenue linked to what it described as an overhaul of the company’s advertising platform.
“Advertising now represents a relatively small share of the total business X is part of,” the note said, adding that advertising remains central to X’s operations.
Musk is trying to reposition X as an “everything app”, with growing emphasis on subscriptions, AI tools and infrastructure-led revenue streams including Grok integration.
Separately, X continues to face regulatory pressure, including a recent ruling in Australia relating to child safety compliance obligations.
An Australian court upheld a A$650,000 fine against X Corp after the company admitted failing to comply with child safety requirements issued by the country’s eSafety Commissioner.
The regulator first issued the penalty in 2023 after X failed to adequately respond to information requests about how it was addressing child exploitation risks online.
The court ruled the penalty was appropriate given the size of the company.
“A penalty near the maximum is appropriate… so that it operates as a real deterrent and is not simply a cost of doing business,” Justice Michael Wheelahan said in a public statement.
The ruling adds to ongoing scrutiny of the platform’s regulatory compliance and content governance standards, even as Musk has previously argued for looser moderation frameworks.
B&T has approached X for comment.
