Last year, businessman Elon Musk formally acquired Twitter, despite previously hitting some bumps in the road.

Upon making this purchase, Musk vowed that Twitter would be a platform that upholds free speech without prejudice. Furthermore, the new Twitter owner said his acquisition of the platform would lead to its improvement and advancement.

Unfortunately, all of these promises haven't exactly come to pass. For one thing, the launch of Threads, a new platform started by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, shares a direct connection with a loss in traffic to Twitter.

At the same time, new reports indicate that Twitter's ad revenue and cash flow have seen better days.

This doesn't look good

Musk himself conceded that an uptick in cash flow and reduction of debt are necessary measures for Twitter. Yesterday night, he admitted both of these things have to pass before other "luxuries" can happen.

Right now, what's hurting Twitter's ability to increase cash flow is a staggering 50% decline in advertisers who are willing to have anything to do with the platform. Some critics believe the lack of ad revenue deals with Musk himself and his management of Twitter.

Advertisers who opted to sever ties with Twitter did so because of employee terminations, content moderation decisions, and differing views about Twitter's future. It goes without saying that many advertisers do not share Musk's view that Twitter will prosper and do well.

At the same time, the recent sucess of Threads puts Twitter in somewhat of a bind. Many social media users who've become disgruntled with Twitter's management are turning to Threads as an alternative.

Time will tell

If Twitter continues struggling as it has been, there are a few likely scenarios.

One, Threads will continue to grow and bring in users who previousy spent considerable amounts of time on Twitter. Two, Twitter will continue to lose advertisers, hence seeing more debt, less cash flow, and less revenue.

Even before Musk's acquisition of Twitter, some folks maintained that putting him in the platform's driver's seat would ruin it.

At the end of the day, social media platforms often come and go. We'll all have to see what lies ahead for Twitter.