Meta's social media platform, Threads, is seen increasingly aggressively challenging X's (Twitter's) dominance in Malaysia as its number of active users continues to increase throughout the period 2023 to 2026.
While X still remains the main platform for current news, politics and financial markets, Threads is starting to show strong momentum, especially among young users and digital content creators.
Based on current data, X recorded around 5.8 million active users in Malaysia in 2026, while Threads is now approaching 4.2 million active users with a much faster annual growth rate.
Competition from 'Ciapan' Platforms Is Getting More Aggressive
X still maintains its position as the dominant platform in Malaysia with a more stable user growth of around 2% per year.
The platform continues to be the top choice for users who follow current developments such as the economy, stock market, geopolitics and global news quickly.
However, Threads recorded its most significant growth surge since its launch when its number of users increased from around 1 million in 2023 to over 4 million users by 2026.
The increase shows that local social media users are starting to look for alternative platforms that are more relaxed, light and less aggressive compared to the environment on X.
In addition, direct integration with Instagram also helps Threads grow faster because users can switch platforms without having to build a new community from scratch.
The Power of Gen Z Trends Determines Popularity
The biggest factor that helps Threads grow is the strong support from the younger generation, especially Gen Z.
The group aged around 18 to 24 is seen to be more active in using Threads than X because its content is more relaxed, visual and community-friendly.
Data shows that Threads has a greater dominance in the young user category with a usage rate of around 61%, far surpassing X which is around 31%.
Unlike X which is filled with political debates, current issues and serious content, Threads is more popular for daily conversations, internet trends, lifestyle and entertainment content.
This pattern has led many content creators, influencers and brands to focus more on Threads to attract the attention of young users.
Freedom and User-Friendliness
One of the main factors that makes Threads increasingly attractive to digital brands is its lower advertising costs and increasing engagement rates.
Data shows that advertising costs on Threads are still cheaper than on X, thus opening up greater space for small businesses and content creators to gain access and grow their audience more efficiently, including through a more competitive subscription price-based strategy to build a loyal user community.
In addition, the engagement rate on Threads is seen to grow more consistently with an increase of around 12.6%, compared to X which only recorded around 1.3%. This shows that Threads users are more active in interacting with content.
This interaction includes commenting, sharing and participating in conversations more openly, thus increasing the value of the community and making the paid subscription model or premium access more potential for monetization by creators and brands.
While X is still strong in the fast-paced news and financial community categories, Threads is now increasingly seen as a new generation social media platform that is more casual, community-focused and has the potential to attract more attractive subscription values among younger users in Malaysia.
