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On Wednesday, April 2, FirstPost published a report about X's alleged data breach, calling it the "largest social media breach ever."
Per the media outlet, the data of over 200 million users might be potentially compromised as it was made available on a hacking forum. Safetydetective.com - a blog website - was the first to report the breach after its researchers found a 34GB downloadable file on a hacking forum called BreachForums.
Newsweek reported that the dataset allegedly combines two separate leaks - the fresh metadata from a 2025 breach and the email addresses stolen in a 2023 incident.
A user named ThinkingOne posted the file on the forum, which allegedly contained data of about 201 million X users.
The user claimed to have shared the data after realizing that neither the social media users nor the general public were aware of the data breach. They even tried reaching out to the platform to discuss the leak, trying several methods with no response.
ThinkingOne told Newsweek:
"My goal here has just been to try to make sure that X is aware of the breach. I'm guessing by now they are, but it is frustrating whe they won't even confirm they are aware of an alleged breach."
Upon reviewing the data available in the file, researchers at Safetydetective.com found that the information was genuine and matched with the original user IDs.
"We reviewed the information corresponding to 100 users in the list, and we found that it matched what was shown on Twitter. We also verified a considerable amount of emails, which turned out to be valid email addresses, though we cannot confirm that the emails belong to the accounts listed."
The researchers also alleged that the information included a user's screen names, user IDs, full name, locations, email addresses, follower counts, time zones, profile images, and more.
Per Newsweek, the leak potentially ranks among the largest data exposure in history in terms of account volume. It also raises serious questions about how the platform handles its cybersecurity threats and internal controls.
The X data breach could be the work of a disgruntled ex-employee
According to Newsweek, the 34GB downloadable file allegedly stems from a bigger trove of user data (nearly 400GB), which is believed to have been infiltrated by a disgruntled employee at this time. Per the media outlet, the data breach occurred during the mass layoffs at the company, which were followed by Elon Musk's acquisition in 2022.
The data likely includes lists of the deactivated accounts, the bot and spam accounts, and the API-based profiles, explaining the discrepancy between the number of leaked accounts and the current user base of the platform - estimated to be around 335 million.
The report of the social media platform's data breach comes days after Elon Musk announced (on March 28) having sold the social media platform of his artificial intelligence company, xAI. Per CNN, xAI will pay $45 billion for the platform, which is slightly more than the amount the Tesla owner paid for it in 2022 - $44 million.
