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Twitter posts record profit despite losing a million monthly users

The company revealed that it had 335 million monthly active users between April and June.
The company revealed that it had 335 million monthly active users between April and June. The company revealed that it had 335 million monthly active users between April and June.

Twitter’s revenue has reached a record high even though monthly user numbers dropped by a million.

The company revealed that it had 335 million monthly active users between April and June, down from the 336 million it reported in the previous quarter.

The social network blamed the fall in numbers on its focus to clean up Twitter by removing spam accounts, as well as the arrival of GDPR, the new data protection regulation introduced by the EU in May.

Despite this, revenue on the platform grew 24% since last year, totalling 711 million dollars (£543 million), as did its advertising revenue, thanks in part to the World Cup, which saw a 23% increase to 601 million dollars (£459 million).

Profit was up 100 million dollars (£76 million).

“Our second-quarter results reflect the work we’re doing to ensure more people get value from Twitter every day,” said chief executive Jack Dorsey.

“We want people to feel safe freely expressing themselves and have launched new tools to address problem behaviours that distort and distract from the public conversation.

“We’re also continuing to make it easier for people to find and follow breaking news and events, and have introduced machine learning algorithms that organise the conversation around events, beginning with the World Cup.

“These efforts contributed to healthy year-over-year daily active usage growth of 11% and demonstrate why we’re investing in the long-term health of Twitter.”

Twitter and rival Facebook have been under increased pressure to crack down on hate speech and misinformation.

Twitter made the decision to remove millions of locked accounts earlier this month in a bid to “improve the health” of conversation on the platform, meaning monthly active user numbers could fall again in the next quarter.

Facebook’s shares took a hit on Wednesday after its monthly active user count fell short of analyst forecasts.

The company’s monthly active users were up 11% year-on-year but growth had fallen flat in the US and Europe, also in part down to the roll-out of GDPR.