X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has been in excellent shape since Elon Musk took over as CEO in October 2022.
The latest news is that Musk is supporting extremist agitators like Tommy Robinson and perpetuating conspiracy theories about a bipartisan policing crackdown in the UK in the wake of the recent riots – which were partly fueled by the spread of false information on social media.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the platform, along with other social media platforms, is home to dubious verified accounts that actively spread lies to mislead users, according to the European Commission. It’s all thanks to Musk’s decision to make everyone buy blue checkmarks and increase their visibility on X. The lunatics are officially running the asylum, it seems.
If you think X is starting to feel like a sinking ship, with a captain hacking at its hull with an axe, it might be time to look for an alternative. These are its best rivals.
Wires
Founded: 2023
Number of active users: 200 million
Threads is essentially Twitter via Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It has attracted more than 200 million users since its launch last summer, making it a legitimate competitor to Musk’s struggling social media site.
In short, it feels like X, with the ability to post messages of up to 500 characters that appear in real-time on followers’ timelines. Like X, you can comment on interesting posts and repost other people’s content to your own timeline for your followers to see.
The app is directly linked to your Instagram account, which makes it feel a little less private. Also, there’s unfortunately no way to completely block algorithmically selected content from your timeline at the moment (you can, however, switch to a feed of accounts you follow every time you open the app).
In recent weeks, Threads seems to have seen a resurgence in journalists and media types, but it’s still not as good for breaking news as X – likely due to its lesser emphasis on politics. Still, it’s a strong start and will immediately appeal to those who want the functionality of X with less of the corporate drama.
Blue sky
Founded: 2021
Number of active users: 1.1 million
Since February, Bluesky has dropped its invite-only policy, so there’s no need to beg users to help you get past the velvet rope. Still, it has a fraction of the membership of X and Threads, despite a recent surge in UK patrons following Musk’s latest outbursts.
Bluesky’s “big sell” is that it’s a decentralized network, though that won’t mean much to the average person looking for a Twitter alternative. This means that Bluesky plans to split into communities that it doesn’t centrally manage.
More features are also being added gradually, such as videos and the ability to directly message other users.
Founded: 2005
Number of active users: 52 million
Founded a year before Twitter, Reddit is an internet institution, but one that can often seem opaque and unfriendly to those without a degree in internet culture. It’s much more like a classic message board or forum than Twitter, and is divided into often incredibly specific areas called subreddits.
These are home to some of the best and worst things the internet has to offer. And of course, the bad stuff has gotten all the attention over the years. However, it’s a great place to indulge in hobbies with like-minded people, while Reddit feeds like /todayilearned and /dataisbeautiful are top time-wasters without the Twitter guilt.
Since going public in March, concerns have grown that Reddit’s management is bowing to shareholders at the expense of its thriving community. Earlier this year, it began licensing user data to Google for AI training purposes. It’s also under pressure to generate more revenue, which could lead to more advertising on the platform. And CEO Steve Huffman has signaled that it may put some forums behind paywalls.
Mastodon
Founded: 2016
Number of active users: One million
While Mastodon is one of the most similar alternatives to X, it will feel very different to use. X is a giant network where everyone tweets under the same virtual umbrella, while Mastodon operates as a series of smaller servers, each with a maximum of 250,000 participants.
When you sign up, you’ll choose a server. For example, there might be a server for “people in Scotland or who identify as Scottish,” or another for “ravers.” Mastodon will feel a lot less crowded than X; it’s less a place to get social media attention than it is to connect with people who share your interests.
Sub-stack
Founded: 2017
Number of active users: 2 million paying subscribers
Substack lets you sign up for email newsletters from both celebrity and amateur writers. The platform has built a reputation as a haven for media firebrands who have fled established news organizations. Notable writers on Substack include journalists Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi; acclaimed authors Salman Rushdie and Chuck Palahniuk; Boris Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings; and political activist Michael Moore.
You can sign up for free and even publish your own articles. But some writers charge a subscription fee for their newsletters, while others simply ask for a tip. Substack makes money by pocketing 10 percent of subscription fees, with additional fees for payment processing.
More recently, Substack has branched out into podcasts and videos, though it remains primarily associated with written articles. Particularly for alienated X-fans, it also launched its own version of short text messages called Notes, which sound eerily similar to tweets.
Beehive
Founded: 2019
Number of active users: One million
Hive Social might appeal to people who are looking for something that behaves like X the moment you sign up. Like X, there’s a timeline, and the ability to follow people and repost other people’s posts however you like. It does all this without timeline algorithms: you see things in chronological order as they’re posted, just like in the early days of Twitter.
There are some big differences, though. For starters, there’s no limit on the length of posts. This makes the bite-sized content that X offers optional, with no defense against braggarts who enjoy the sound of their own voice. Furthermore, at the time of writing, it’s mobile-only, with no desktop experience whatsoever.
After a brief burst of interest in late 2022, Hive hasn’t grown as big as some had hoped. But the platform’s development continues. On June 20, Hive announced its verification feature, which lets you email copies of a photo ID to the Hive team. But at least you don’t have to pay for it yet.
After
Founded: 2022
Number of active users: TBC
Post is a news-driven social network launched by Noam Bardin, former CEO of Waze.
“Post is designed to give back the voice to the excluded majority; there are enough platforms for extremists and we cannot give up the town square to them,” says Bardin.
Personally, Post reads more like a newsfeed, with articles from publications like USA Today and Fortune. It’s less about reading the bizarre opinions of Greg278938X from the internet. However, you’ll also find regular people posting on Post.
It has a points-based currency. You pay a certain number of points to read full articles, and you can tip people or publications. Buying extra points costs real money. Post is currently only available for iPhone, and it’s unclear how many active users the platform currently has.
AgainstSocial
Founded: 2017
Number of active users: Approximately 30,000
In response to the problems that have hit social media giants like X and Facebook, CounterSocial claims to have a “zero tolerance policy” towards “hostile countries, bot accounts, trolls and disinformation networks”.
To achieve this, entire countries, including Russia, China and North Korea, are blocked from accessing the network.
Once you get into it, it’s like Twitter, but with virtually no engagement with the “community firehose” of content promoted by the app itself. CounterSocial isn’t for those looking to kill time browsing social media streams. Grab some friends. You might find yourself put off reading the platform’s FAQ section.
The Counter Social team also runs Counter Realms, a metaverse-like set of VR chatrooms. However, at the time of writing, they were all empty.
Co-host
Founded: 2022
Number of active users: Approximately 38,000
If CounterSocial is the “no bots” platform, then Cohost wants to be the “no algorithm” social network, bringing back some of the internet feeling of the past. It promises “no ads, no tracking,” for good.
You can try the service for free, but there is also a Cohost Plus subscription for $5 (£4) a month ($50/£40 a year) to support the developers and unlock some advanced features, such as large file uploads.
There’s no Cohost phone app yet, just a web interface, which isn’t easy to find. And the active user base is probably small. But sign up with a group of friends and there are worse ways to stay in touch online.
Tumblr
Founded: 2007
Daily news: Nine million
Tumblr is a social network many have forgotten exists. It was a behemoth in the days before such platforms were routinely described as a “hellscape.” But according to an interview in The New Yorker with Tumblr CEO Jeff D’Onofrio, 48 percent of its active users and 61 percent of new users come from Gen Z.
Today, it comes across as a much lower-stakes network than the big names. Because it has been around for centuries, it doesn’t pretend to be a clean sweep of the social networking world. It is less saturated with influencers than the more mainstream networks.