Twitter witnessed a substantial increase in its user base, which increased to 192 million, in the final quarter of 2020 which was highlighted by a fight against misinformation, the Presidential elections in the US and its aftermath. The sudden increase accounted for a 27% spike in daily active users, in comparison to the last quarter of 2019. 

Jack Dorsey, the Chief Executive of the social media giant stated that they kept their attention on “promoting healthier conversations for those who use our service.” He added, “2020 was an extraordinary year for Twitter. We are more proud than ever to serve the public conversation, especially in these unprecedented times.”

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Following the violent breach of the US Capitol on January 6, major social media handles, including Facebook and Twitter, of then US President Donald Trump were suspended after his suspected involvement of inciting the violence among his supporters and spreading false claims of electoral fraud in the US. 

Twitter announced a 28% surge in revenue in addition to profits nearly double the amount, which stood at $222 million, in comparison to the previous year. 

Twitter, which is rich in representation from public figures like journalists, celebrities and politicians, experienced a significant surge in their shares.

Nazmul Islam, an e-Market analyst said, “Twitter caps off a turbulent 2020 with a strong performance.” However, he further predicted a gradual decrease due to the “removal of accounts and defections from those who oppose account bans.”

Apple plans to introduce a feature in their upcoming operating system called “privacy nutrition label” which informs users about the collected data used by asking for user consent using a pop-up notification. The feature could potentially damage the revenue generated through ads for many social media platforms, including Twitter. 

“Assuming the global pandemic continues to improve and that we see modest impact from the rollout of changes associated with iOS 14, we expect total revenue to grow faster than expenses in 2021,” Twitter said.

Financial analysts were watching to see whether the absence of Trump’s attention-grabbing behavior at Twitter will take a toll on the messaging platform’s use or revenue.

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The active user base has been closely monitored by investors and financial analysts for any fluctuations in user behaviour after Twitter banned the account of Trump. 

“It looks like Twitter has a solid path of profitability, but they could take a hit this quarter due to Trump and a lot of Republicans being pulled off the platform,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.

“I know the platform is a lot more pleasant now.”