Meta Platforms’ text-centric social network Threads has surpassed 400 million monthly active users, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced on 12 August. The milestone is the app’s most significant since its July 2023 debut and underscores Meta’s challenge to Elon Musk’s X in the real-time social-media market. The latest figure is up from about 350 million in April and 175 million around the service’s first anniversary last summer, highlighting accelerating adoption. Data from analytics firm Similarweb show Threads logged 115.1 million daily active mobile users in June—up 128 percent from a year earlier—narrowing the gap with X’s 132 million, which declined more than 15 percent over the same period. Threads’ momentum gives Meta added leverage as it seeks to broaden its social portfolio. Across its platforms, the company generates more than US$25 in monthly revenue from each North American user, nearly ten times the average of rivals such as Snapchat, Reddit and Pinterest, providing financial headroom to roll out new features including trending topics, live sports scores and a developer API. Zuckerberg has previously said he wants Threads to reach one billion users. While that target remains distant, the service’s rapid growth and rising engagement suggest Meta is closing in on X in the race for the largest real-time conversation network.