Downloads of the app formerly known as Twitter surged after former Fox News TV host Tucker Carlson announced on
On Wednesday, multiple outlets including Reuters, The Associated Press and The New York Times confirmed that Carlson's interview had begun, and the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said the show was expected to air on Thursday.
The X app began climbing the AppStore charts around 7 p.m. ET, becoming the No. 1 app by midnight, according to app intelligence firm Appfigures. It displaces rival InstagramThreads, which was once the number one app and has now fallen to number two.
Early estimates from Appfigures show X received 117,000 new downloads on Tuesday, up from 93,000 the day before. The company believes that since the app only started to gain momentum in the evening, it is still possible for X to get more installs today.
In the video, Carlson boasted on the Elon Musk-owned platform that he would soon broadcast Putin's first interview with Western media since Russia invaded Ukraine. A Kremlin spokesman told Reuters that Putin agreed to be interviewed because Carlson's approach was different from the "one-sided" reporting on Ukraine by many Western media. In other words, Putin believes that he can not only gain the attention of a sympathetic audience, but also reach a larger audience that may sympathize with him.
The New York Times confirmed that on Tuesday afternoon, Carlson posted a video shot from a high-rise building in central Moscow on the X website. In the video, he explained why he wanted to interview Putin, saying that "most Americans don't know why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his current goals are." The former Fox News personality also suggested that Americans have a right to know these things because they bear part of the cost of the Russia-Ukraine war. He also suggested that he was the only one willing to ask Putin for an interview - a notion that CNN and PBS reporter Christiane Amanpour quickly corrected in a post:
"Tucker really thinks that we reporters haven't been trying to interview President Putin every day since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine? That's ridiculous -- and we will continue to demand interviews, just like we have been doing for years."
Carlson, who has been accused by critics of appearing to sympathize with Russia's position, earlier directed Fox News viewers to ask themselves what the conflict in Ukraine is all about and why they hate Putin so much.
The TV host is one of a small group of creators who have set up accounts on Musk's rebranded X. However, Musk clarified shortly after Carlson was fired by Fox last May that X had no special agreement to work with the TV host. Musk explained that Carlson still has to abide by the rules for other content creators on X, including the rules for creators’ share of X’s advertising revenue.
In recent years, Musk's political stance has shifted to the right, and he tends to express controversial views on the platform, which has often put Channel X in dire straits and even threatened its future profitability. For example, at the end of last year, X faced the withdrawal of a number of advertisers due to some of Musk's anti-Semitic remarks.
However, despite Musk's political leanings, not all creators' content on X reflects his views. For example, top YouTuber Mr. Beast posted a video on X in January this year that earned him over $250,000. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon will also launch a show on X after he was fired by the network last year. Other creators on X include politicians Tulsi Gabbard and Paris Hilton. (Reports indicate that Hilton originally gave up her contract with X Network due to Musk’s anti-Semitic remarks and brand safety concerns, but X Network CEO Linda Yacarino persuaded her to return to X).
Aside from the Tucker Carlson news, the timing of X's surge to the top of the App Store is noteworthy for another reason.
Yesterday, X competitor Bluesky opened its doors to the public after being invitation-only. This year, Bluesky plans to launch the federation, which means it will be a decentralized alternative to Twitter/X, similar to Mastodon. However, it uses a different underlying protocol - AT protocol, while Mastodon and InstagramThreads (another X competitor) are built on top of ActivityPub.
Although Bluesky gained about 800,000 new users yesterday, it is not currently in the top 100 free apps in the US App Store.