X has been around for nearly two decades now (under the name Twitter for most of that time), yet Musk's most recent "monthly users" claim is more than double the "monthly active users" number that the company reported right before Musk's takeover. If more than 250 million users joined X in the 10 months that Musk has been in charge, as opposed to anytime over the prior 17 years, it stands to reason that Musk was an important factor in their decision to join, and that a significant number of them would be following Musk. According to our report on Musk's followers, more than 25 percent — or 38.9 million — of Musk's followers joined the platform after he acquired the company in October. That's a large chunk of Musk's followers. Yet, that 38.9 million represents less than 14 percent of the new users that Musk is claiming X has. Something isn't adding up.

When Musk acquired the company, X's new owner made a big deal about removing fake accounts and bots on the platform. Musk himself suspected that Twitter had drastically underreported the number of fake accounts when he agreed to buy the company. It's literally the reason he cited when he tried to back out but was later forced to go through with the acquisition. 

One of Musk's first moves after the acquisition was to completely rebuild the platform's verification system in his vision, removing legacy verified users, and turning the feature into a paid subscription. All the while, Musk claimed that these moves were part of his core strategic decisions to facilitate a platform with only real active users. However, another recent report by Mashable on X Premium, Musk's paid subscription service formerly known as Twitter Blue, found that there are just around 830,000 subscribers.

Now, clearly there are more than 830,000 real users on X. Just how many more, though, is anyone's guess. Musk's "monthly user" claims certainly seem inflated. And his followers, or really the millions of inactive accounts following him, are telling a whole different story.