Social media reaches billions through daily use, mobile access, and targeted messaging—and that same infrastructure can enable identity theft and other fraud. Victims aren’t the only ones at risk: financially motivated breaches and third-party compromises can spread when governance and oversight lag. Across this page, you’ll see verified stats on who’s affected, where harms concentrate, and which monitoring and enforcement measures help reduce risk.
Key Takeaways
- 37% of the global population uses social media daily
- 1.6% of U.S. adults report using Threads
- 4.9 billion social media users worldwide are expected to access at least one social network via mobile in 2024 (baseline for 2025 forecasts)
- In 2023, 5,136,000 U.S. adults experienced identity theft, and social media-driven scams are a known delivery mechanism for identity theft attempts
- $6.2 billion was lost to romance scams in the U.S. in 2023 (commonly initiated via social platforms)
- In the UK, 25% of adults who used social media reported encountering scams online in 2023
- Meta removed or restored 1.7 billion pieces of content in the first quarter of 2024, reflecting high enforcement volume
- YouTube’s Transparency Report states it removed or restricted 6.4 million videos in 2023 for harmful content categories it tracks
- In 2023, 67% of organizations in a Gartner survey said they experienced a breach involving their digital assets
- In 2023, 46% of organizations experienced a data breach caused by a third party, often coordinated via social channels
- The average total cost of a data breach was $4.88 million (2024 IBM Cost of a Data Breach report)
- In 2023, 54% of organizations used some form of social media monitoring for risk and reputation
- $45.2 billion social media advertising market size in the U.S. in 2023
- $122.3 billion social media advertising market in Europe in 2023
- $4.2 billion global spend on social media listening and analytics software in 2023 (market estimate)
Social media fuels discovery and profits, but scams and breaches follow, costing billions in losses.
Related reading
01 · Category
User Adoption4 stats
01
37% of the global population uses social media dailyhttps://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-global-overview-report
02
1.6% of U.S. adults report using Threadshttps://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/
03
4.9 billion social media users worldwide are expected to access at least one social network via mobile in 2024 (baseline for 2025 forecasts)https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-social-network-users/
04
56% of global respondents say social media is a place where they discover new brandshttps://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
With 37% of the global population using social media daily and 4.9 billion expected mobile social users in 2024, user adoption is clearly being driven by massive everyday and mobile reach, while Threads still trails at just 1.6% of U.S. adults.
02 · Category
Safety & Fraud3 stats
01
In 2023, 5,136,000 U.S. adults experienced identity theft, and social media-driven scams are a known delivery mechanism for identity theft attemptshttps://www.annualcreditreport.com/consumer/press-releases/annual-identity-theft-report-2023
02
$6.2 billion was lost to romance scams in the U.S. in 2023 (commonly initiated via social platforms)https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023_IC3Report.pdf
03
In the UK, 25% of adults who used social media reported encountering scams online in 2023https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/260131/online-safety-evidence-update-scams-online.pdf
Interpretation
Safety & Fraud Interpretation
In 2023, millions of U.S. adults faced identity theft and the U.S. saw $6.2 billion in romance-scam losses often initiated through social platforms, while in the UK 25% of social media users reported encountering scams, underscoring that safety and fraud risks are a widespread and online driven reality.
03 · Category
Platform Risk5 stats
01
Meta removed or restored 1.7 billion pieces of content in the first quarter of 2024, reflecting high enforcement volumehttps://transparency.facebook.com/policies/community-standards-enforcement
02
YouTube’s Transparency Report states it removed or restricted 6.4 million videos in 2023 for harmful content categories it trackshttps://transparencyreport.google.com/youtube-policy/overview
03
In 2023, 67% of organizations in a Gartner survey said they experienced a breach involving their digital assetshttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-07-11-gartner-digital-asset-attack-survey
04
38% of breaches in the Verizon DBIR 2024 were financially motivatedhttps://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/
05
In 2024, 43% of organizations reported using AI to improve cybersecurity detection and responsehttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-04-17-gartner-report-generative-ai-and-cybersecurity
Interpretation
Platform Risk Interpretation
Platform Risk is escalating as enforcement and breach impacts grow, with Meta handling 1.7 billion content actions in Q1 2024 and 38% of 2024 breaches being financially motivated, while 43% of organizations are turning to AI to strengthen detection and response.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics7 stats
01
In 2023, 46% of organizations experienced a data breach caused by a third party, often coordinated via social channelshttps://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach
02
The average total cost of a data breach was $4.88 million (2024 IBM Cost of a Data Breach report)https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach
03
In 2023, 54% of organizations used some form of social media monitoring for risk and reputationhttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-05-17-gartner-spotlight-social-media-management
04
In 2024, 60% of marketers reported using paid social advertising as part of their strategyhttps://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/social-media-ad-spend-report-2024/
05
Instagram’s ad audience reached 2.0 billion monthly active users worldwide (ad reach metric)https://www.businessofapps.com/data/instagram-statistics/
06
Facebook ad reach for advertisers was 2.11 billion accounts in 2024 (ad audience metric)https://www.businessofapps.com/data/facebook-statistics/
07
YouTube reached 2.7 billion logged-in users globally (reported by Google in its advertising ecosystem context)https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-154/article/how-youtube-works/
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
For the performance metrics lens, social media is no longer just a marketing channel because in 2023 46% of organizations saw third party data breaches tied to social coordination while 54% already use social media monitoring and 60% of marketers rely on paid social advertising, showing both measurable reach and rising risk pressure.
05 · Category
Market Size5 stats
01
$45.2 billion social media advertising market size in the U.S. in 2023https://www.statista.com/statistics/273028/advertising-spending-social-networks-us/
02
$122.3 billion social media advertising market in Europe in 2023https://www.statista.com/statistics/1226912/social-media-ad-spending-europe/
03
$4.2 billion global spend on social media listening and analytics software in 2023 (market estimate)https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50855823
04
$6.9 billion global spend projected for social media management software in 2028 (market forecast)https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50858423
05
$7.3 billion global spend projected for social media analytics and monitoring software in 2026 (forecast)https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/social-media-analytics-market-103662
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
The market for Shocking Social Media is expanding across major spending categories, with US social media advertising at $45.2 billion in 2023 and global social media management software projected to reach $6.9 billion by 2028, alongside growing analytics demand like $7.3 billion forecast in 2026, showing strong and sustained investment in both promotion and measurement.
06 · Category
Industry Trends7 stats
01
68% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budget in the next year (industry survey)https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-statistics/
02
61% of marketers use TikTok for marketing efforts in 2024 (industry survey)https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/tiktok-statistics-for-marketers/
03
58% of marketers say short-form video has the best ROI compared with other content formats (industry survey)https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-industry-report-2024/
04
73% of organizations use social media analytics tools to measure performance (industry survey)https://www.forrester.com/report/social-media-analytics-and-listening/
05
In 2023, 11% of Europeans said they use social media as their main source of news (Eurobarometer)https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2341
06
In 2024, 62% of marketers reported using first-party data strategies to reduce reliance on third-party cookieshttps://www.sproutsocial.com/insights/data-trends/
07
In 2024, 50% of marketers said they use AI to assist with ad creative variationshttps://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-marketing/
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Industry Trends show that social media measurement and content investment are accelerating, with 73% of organizations using analytics tools and 68% of marketers planning to raise influencer marketing budgets, while short form video is reported as delivering the best ROI at 58%.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Aisha Okonkwo. (2026, February 13). Shocking Social Media Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/shocking-social-media-statistics
MLA
Aisha Okonkwo. "Shocking Social Media Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/shocking-social-media-statistics.
Chicago
Aisha Okonkwo. 2026. "Shocking Social Media Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/shocking-social-media-statistics.
Sources & references
31 datasets cited across this report
+7 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)