Twitter miscounted its daily users from Q1 2019 to Q4 2021

Twitter revealed in its earning release for Q1 2022 that it overstated the number of monetizable daily active users from Q1 2019 to Q4 2021. 

The company explained that the reason for the error is related to the feature it announced in March 2019 that allows people to connect multiple separate accounts to easily switch between accounts. “ An error was made at that time, such that actions taken via the primary account resulted in all linked accounts being counted as mDAU,” Twitter explained. 

Actually, this isn’t the first time Twitter has done this. In 2017, the company realized that it had overstated its user numbers, with around 1 million to 2 million users over three years.

As a result of the error, Twitter overestimated the number of daily users by up to 1.9 million last quarter. For Q1 2022, the average DAU was 229 million, up 15.9% compared to Q1 of the prior year. 

Twitter’s revenue for the first quarter of 2022 totaled $1.20 billion, up 16% year-over-year. When excluding MoPub and MoPub Acquire, the YoY growth was 22%. The company reported an operating loss of $128 million. 

Twitter announced on Monday that it has accepted Elon Musk’s bid to acquire the company for $44 billion. Stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter, matching Elon Musk’s original offer.  The transaction, which is expected to close in 2022, has been approved by the board of directors of Twitter.

Let’s make Twitter maximum fun!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2022