Foreign Media: Global Social Media Platform Rankings for 2026: Meta Dominates, Chinese Platforms Surge Strongly
According to the latest data from Salesforce, Facebook maintains its position as the world’s largest social media platform with 3.1 billion monthly active users, covering approximately 40% of the global population. Meta's platforms occupy five spots among the top fifteen: Facebook (3.1 billion), Instagram (3 billion), WhatsApp (3 billion), Messenger (1 billion), and Threads (400 million), collectively boasting an unmatched user base. Instagram was acquired by Meta in 2012 for $1 billion, while WhatsApp was acquired in 2014 for nearly $20 billion.
Chinese platforms also demonstrate strong performance: TikTok, under ByteDance, ranks fifth globally with 2 billion monthly active users, while its domestic version, Douyin, has 755 million monthly active users, ranking eleventh. WeChat, operated by Tencent, has 1.4 billion monthly active users, ranking sixth. Together, these three platforms have over 4 billion users. Due to regulatory pressures from the United States, ByteDance reached a joint venture agreement with a U.S. company in 2025.
Other major platforms include: YouTube with 2.5 billion monthly active users, ranking fourth; Telegram with 1 billion monthly active users, ranking eighth; Snapchat with 900 million, ranking ninth; Reddit with 850 million, ranking tenth; X (formerly Twitter) with 650 million, ranking twelfth; Pinterest with 578 million, ranking thirteenth; and LinkedIn with 310 million monthly active users, ranking fifteenth (acquired by Microsoft in 2016 for over $26 billion).
Original Source: toutiao.com/article/1864948805810249/
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