Social media platform X faced a global outage that affected more than 70,000 users in the UK, US and Canada. 

Users were unable to view posts on the site for more than an hour. Users who pay for X Pro, a premium version of the site, were also affected. 

According to data from Downdetector.com, X users first began reporting problems with viewing posts at 5:30am GMT. 

Although the site is now back online, an official cause of the outage has yet to be named by X. 

Social media companies are currently experiencing a sharp decrease in the value of deals made within the industry, despite the volume of deals increasing between 2018 and 2022. 

Research analyst company GlobalData recorded this in its 2023 thematic intelligence report into social media. 

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals involving social media companies slowed in 2023, with investors exercising caution over social media’s rocky ad-funded business model. 

Developments in AI and attempts by social media sites to diversify their revenues has been the main source of investment. X’s attempt to steady its revenue has resulted in a premium site membership that costs users $8 a month. 

Emphasis on the gaming and ecommerce themes continued for social media companies through 2022 and into 2023, as the distinction between gaming and social media continued to blur. 

Our signals coverage is powered by GlobalData’s Thematic Engine, which tags millions of data items across six alternative datasets – patents, jobs, deals, company filings, social media mentions and news – to themes, sectors and companies. These signals enhance our predictive capabilities, helping us to identify the most disruptive threats across each of the sectors we cover and the companies best placed to succeed.