For three years, Twitter has inflated the number of daily users on its site, overcounting by up to 1.9 million users per quarter. Because Twitter incorrectly counted many accounts as active when they were all linked to a single user, even if they weren’t all in use, the error occurred. These figures were presented for the first quarter of 2019 through the fourth quarter of 2021.
This isn’t the first time Twitter has done something like this. Twitter also discovered in 2017 that it had been overstating its user numbers by around 1 million to 2 million users for the previous three years. The reoccurring error was discovered today in Twitter’s first-quarter 2022 earnings announcement.
The new numbers aren’t exactly game-changing: Twitter now has 229 million daily users, up more than 10 million from the previous quarter’s exaggerated total. They are, however, one last embarrassing blunder for Twitter as it negotiates a deal to be taken private, at which point it will no longer be required to reveal these numbers publicly.
Twitter reported a $128 million operating loss on $1.2 billion in revenue, which was in line with its own forecast for the quarter. Revenue increased 16 percent year over year, owing to “headwinds linked with the situation in Ukraine,” according to Twitter.
Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s takeover offer on Monday, agreeing to hand over control of the firm for $44 billion. The transaction is likely to be completed later this year.
Twitter said it will stop providing performance guidance as a result of the imminent sale and will “withdraw all previously provided goals and outlook.”
Let’s make Twitter maximum fun!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2022
Musk has made only cryptic pronouncements about how he plans to modify Twitter, vowing to “enhance[ the] product with new features,” open source the company’s algorithms, crack down on spambots, and verify all users. He’s also been adamant about making it into a forum for free speech, which has created questions about how he’ll manage the network’s moderation.
Prior to the agreement, some Twitter employees publicly expressed anxiety about Musk’s prospective takeover, and Musk has only served to confirm those suspicions in recent days as he continues to post negative comments about the company’s decisions. His criticism of Twitter policy head Vijaya Gadde, in particular, has resulted in abuse from other Twitter users.
Twitter was intended to hold a conference call with investors today to discuss the company’s profits, however the meeting was canceled “in light of the pending transaction.” If the sale goes through, today’s data will be one of the company’s last public earnings reports.
