Meta’s text-based app Threads has overtaken Elon Musk’s X in mobile usage, reaching approximately 141.5 million daily active users on iOS and Android as of January 7, according to data from market intelligence firm Similarweb. By comparison, X’s mobile daily audience stands at roughly 125 million users. This milestone comes after several months of consistent growth for Threads, which benefited from integration with Instagram and Facebook account logins and rapid feature rollouts such as hashtag search, direct messaging and user verification. The metric underscores Meta’s ability to leverage its vast social ecosystem—3.5 billion people use at least one Meta app daily—to drive adoption of new offerings and compete head-to-head with established microblogging platforms.

Britain’s Gambling Commission issued a formal notice on Monday alleging that Meta Platforms has been turning a blind eye to advertisements for unlicensed online casinos across Facebook and Instagram. In its statement, the regulator highlighted that hundreds of promotional posts and paid ads promoting illegal betting sites remained live despite repeated takedown requests, effectively allowing criminals to profit from Meta’s ad revenues. The Commission warned that if Meta fails to implement robust pre-publication checks and automated filters to block non-compliant casino operators, it may face substantial fines under the UK’s Advertising Standards Framework and potential restrictions on its ability to serve gambling ads.

Meta is positioning itself as a misunderstood AI powerhouse by earmarking $70 billion to $72 billion in capital expenditures for 2025, up sharply from prior guidance. This investment will fund the build-out of custom AI chips, hyperscale data centers and the expansion of its open-source large language model, Llama, which Meta has already licensed to dozens of research institutions and startups. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that these efforts will enhance user engagement—through on-app virtual assistants and generative content tools—and revolutionize ad creation via automated, AI-driven campaigns. With 3.54 billion daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads, Meta’s AI infrastructure push aims to translate massive compute scale into higher ad revenue and new monetization streams over the coming years.