Market profileSocial referralsHHI 4,995 · 2026 · Estimated

U.S. social-media referral traffic

Digital platforms· United States · 2026

A public-interest profile for showing where market power is measurable, where public data is missing, and what government should require next.

Structure snapshot

Open shares

Facebook68.9%Twitter / X11.6%

01 Facebook68.9%02 Twitter / X11.6%03 Pinterest7.5%04 Instagram6.3%

HHI position4,995 · Highly concentrated

HHI: 4,995
CR4: 94.4%
Leading share: 68.9%

Latest evidence2026 · Estimated Profile JSONOpen scoped endpoint CSVExport rows Build briefReview packet

Concentration on the HHI scale

Facebook alone holds 69% of this market. That makes it highly concentrated on the HHI scale — past the 2,500 line of the 2010 merger guidelines, and well past the 1,800 line the agencies' 2023 Merger Guidelines use.

4,995

1,5002,500CompetitiveMonopoly

Ranks #3 of 12 tracked markets by HHI.

Evidence atlas

Source to public action route

100%

Public coverage12 share rows

Live evidence packetMetric routed4,995 routes through public methodology

Reusable rows561 sources, 12 share rows

Public actionImmediate reviewTest whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.

Data

2026

Estimated

Packet

56 rows

1 core source

Action

Immediate review

HHI 4,995

Public stake

Digital platforms

Concentrated markets turn everyday access into private leverage.

Evidence posture

Estimated

56 reusable rows across 1 core source.

Government duty

Immediate review

Test whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.

HHI

4,995

Highly concentrated

Top firm

68.94%

Market share

CR4

94.40%

Top 4 firms

Data status

Estimated

Based on public shares

Confidence

Medium

Methodology limits

Review flags

Immediate review

Source-backed concentration profile

StatCounter reports monthly all-platform U.S. social-media referral shares for April 2023-April 2026.

Observatory market brief

Social referrals: highly concentrated, with observed HHI up 1,602 points.

The latest 2026 screen reports HHI 4,995, classified as highly concentrated. Facebook leads the sourced distribution at 68.9%. The four largest named participants account for 94.4%. HHI rose by 1,602 points from 2023 to 2026, moving from 3,393 to 4,995.

Latest structure

HHI 4,995

The latest 2026 screen reports HHI 4,995, classified as highly concentrated. Facebook leads the sourced distribution at 68.9%. The four largest named participants account for 94.4%.

Published change

+1,602 HHI

HHI rose by 1,602 points from 2023 to 2026, moving from 3,393 to 4,995.

Evidence custody

1 custody record

1 record in the evidence custody chain, 12 latest share rows, 0 linked official records, and 1 related brief support this profile. Status is estimated public with medium confidence.

Comparison window

HHI

20233,393Change+1,60220264,995

HHI points

Measured-market context#3 of 8latest sourced HHI rank

Public research question

Does the observed usage structure persist in revenue, switching, access, quality, and conduct evidence under a legally relevant market definition?

Immediate review

Test whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.Open public-action route

Market-definition contract

Read the boundary before the metric.

This profile’s concentration claims apply only to the product, geography, denominator, and measurement basis documented below.

Public proxymedium confidence2026 basis

Product boundary

Outbound web referrals from social-media sites

Geographic boundary

United States

Measurement basis

StatCounter all-platform social-media referral share

Denominator

U.S. page views on StatCounter-tracked websites that were referred by a tracked social-media site in each pinned April snapshot

Included

Every social-media referral category published in the source row, including small and Other categories

Excluded

In-platform activity, users, time spent, posts, engagement, advertising revenue, messaging, video consumption without an outbound referral, and legal market boundaries

Cross-market use

Screen only

Time-series use

Comparable anchors

Method note

Compute HHI from the complete category distribution in each same-month StatCounter U.S. social-media export and preserve the outbound-referral denominator.

Referral share ranks traffic-generation to sampled third-party websites. It is not platform audience share, engagement share, advertising share, or a legally defined social-network market.

Boundary source

Social media referral share in United States of America, April 2023-April 2026

StatCounter Global Stats · accessed 2026-07-20

Declared economy screen / navigation only

NAICS 519290 / Web search portals and all other information services

2022 national industry HHI withheld; this does not redefine or validate the market above.

Industry screen Open crosswalk

Comparison guardrail

The same 0-10,000 HHI scale does not make different product, geographic, or denominator definitions economically interchangeable. Cross-market HHI is a descriptive screen only.

Evidence timeline

Follow the profile from source record to public action.

Each profile should read like an inspectable research route: source access, concentration metric, participant table, official policy chronology, briefing, and the government question it creates.

Open data rows

Full route

Metrics, sources, reports, and action posture.

Events

Rows

Sources

Gaps

Latest evidence: Research brief · Five Digital Gateways

Full route packet

Profile, metrics, participant rows, sources, and reports for the selected market.

11 events

JSON CSV

Full route packet ready: citation, API, CSV, JS, and Python handoffs.

Profile JSONName, geography, sector, score, and current concentration fields.1 market Definition contractProduct boundary, geography, denominator, proxy status, and permitted comparison uses.1 definition ObservationsHHI values, methods, status, and confidence levels.4 rows ParticipantsFirm and aggregate share rows behind the profile.48 rows SourcesPublisher, citation, access date, and license notes.1 row Policy eventsOfficial complaints, decisions, remedies, inquiries, and reports.0 events

Research brief2026 · ReportFive system histories, exact share rows, official product-attribution paths, and a public research agenda with every denominator kept separate.Antitrust Radar public dataset2026 · SourceSocial media referral share in United States of America, April 2023-April 2026Source ledger Immediate review2026 · ActionTest whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.Action center HHI 4,9952026 · ObservationReferral share is not platform audience, engagement, time spent, advertising revenue, or a legal market.StatCounter Global Stats 12/12 rows2026 · ParticipantsLead visible row: Facebook at 68.9%.StatCounter Global Stats HHI 3,8042025 · ObservationReferral share is not platform audience, engagement, time spent, advertising revenue, or a legal market.StatCounter Global Stats 12/12 rows2025 · ParticipantsLead visible row: Facebook at 57.5%.StatCounter Global Stats

Peer comparison atlas

Read this market against nearby evidence.

Strong public profiles are navigable. This view connects the current market to sector peers, concentration peers, and disclosure-gap peers using the public metrics already in the observatory. Node size follows published HHI; withheld HHI uses the smallest marker.

Compare these profiles Full rankings

All peers: Show every selected peer route.

Peers 4Avg HHI 5,288Gaps 0Node size Published HHI

Comparison readout

Compared

Same sector

Data gaps

5,288

Avg peer HHI

Peer profiles

AI assistantsSector peer4,804HHI Mobile operating systemsSector peer5,337HHI Search enginesSector peer7,359HHI Individual insuranceConcentration peer3,650HHI

Current market

Social referrals

4,995

HHI

68.9%

Top

94.4%

CR4

Participant shares

United States · 2026 · StatCounter Global Stats

12 sourced rows

Facebook

68.94% share · rank 1 · Estimated from public data · medium confidence

StatCounter Global Stats

Tile area is proportional to each firm’s sourced market share. Hatched tiles are aggregate or residual categories, shown for coverage and excluded from firm-level screens.

Facebook

68.94%

Public estimate

Twitter / X

11.63%

Public estimate

7.53%

Public estimate

Instagram

6.28%

Public estimate

2.35%

Public estimate

YouTube

2.33%

Public estimate

0.40%

Public estimate

Tumblr

0.29%

Public estimate

Fark

0.16%

Public estimate

#10

Hacker News

0.09%

Public estimate

#11

VKontakte

0.00%

Public estimate

#12

Other social referrals(aggregate)

0.00%

Public estimate

#	Participant	Share	Status
1	Facebook	68.94%	Estimated from public data
2	Twitter / X	11.63%	Estimated from public data
3	Pinterest	7.53%	Estimated from public data
4	Instagram	6.28%	Estimated from public data
5	Reddit	2.35%	Estimated from public data
6	YouTube	2.33%	Estimated from public data
7	LinkedIn	0.40%	Estimated from public data
8	Tumblr	0.29%	Estimated from public data
9	Fark	0.16%	Estimated from public data
10	Hacker News	0.09%	Estimated from public data
11	VKontakte	0.00%	Estimated from public data
12	Other social referrals(aggregate)	0.00%	Estimated from public data

Longitudinal evidence

Market history studio

Inspect sourced concentration releases and comparable share anchors without interpolating between public observations.

Social referrals / 2023-2026

HHI anchors

discrete public releases

Firm snapshots

comparable share years

Observation span

2023-2026

4 public years

Data sources

unique linked records

Concentration releases

Reported HHI anchor years

Each bar is a sourced release. Missing years remain missing rather than being drawn as a continuous trend.

2026 selected

1,800 review level2,500 high-concentration levelSelected release

StatCounter Global Stats. Discrete public anchors only; missing years are not interpolated.

Selected release

2026

United States

Public estimate

HHI

4,995

Prior anchor

+1,191

Leading firm

Facebook

Share coverage

100.0%

Publisher: StatCounter Global Stats
Confidence: Medium confidence
Method: computed from public shares
Rows: 12 participant rows

Referral share is not platform audience, engagement, time spent, advertising revenue, or a legal market.

JSON rows CSV export Source record

Evidence & public action

Review basis and public action

Keep HHI, firm shares, trend, and evidence quality separate so researchers can inspect why this market is routed for review.

Review posture

Immediate review

Confidence

Medium confidence

Exact flags

4 visible

Screening rule

Review posture uses published concentration thresholds, trend direction, and evidence status as separate signals. It does not estimate consumer harm or establish legal liability.

Public implication

Test whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.

Evidence still needed

Agency-ready source trail and market-definition caveats

HHI 4,995 (>= 2,500)68.9% top firm (>= 35%)94.4% CR4 (>= 60%)HHI trend increasing

Data provenance

Methodology: Compute HHI from every category in each pinned April source row and keep the referral-traffic denominator explicit; label the result as estimated from public web-analytics data.

Limitations: Referral share is not platform audience, engagement, time spent, advertising revenue, or a legal market.

Social media referral share in United States of America, April 2023-April 2026

StatCounter Global Stats

public dataset

StatCounter Global Stats, Social Media Stats in United States Of America, monthly CSV export for April 2023-April 2026.

Accessed Jul 20, 2026Source URL

Field citation

Reusable market claim

Social referrals (United States, 2026): HHI 4,995; CR4 94.4%; top-firm share 68.9%; estimated public data; medium confidence; action posture: Immediate review.

JSON CSV

Packet ready: citation, API, CSV, JS, and Python handoffs.

Government ask

Test whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.

Market rowus-social-media-referral-traffic Definitionpublic proxy Observations4 Participants48

Coverage console

A compact audit of whether the profile has enough public evidence to support action.

Watchlist ready

Freshness2026Latest source access Jul 20, 2026

Coverage100%12 of 12 latest rows include shares

API routes8Filtered public JSON endpoints for reuse

Source mix1public dataset

Source mix

1 sources

public dataset1

Hardening watch

Refresh shares when the source table updates

Keep residual categories auditable

Monitor conduct, access, and switching-cost evidence

Public evidence packet

Jump from this market profile to the filtered machine-readable rows behind the public claim.

56 rows

Market rowDefinition, geography, review posture, and latest concentration metricsus-social-media-referral-traffic DefinitionProduct boundary, geography, denominator, comparison rules, and source basispublic proxy ObservationsYearly HHI records, status labels, and method notes4 ParticipantsFirm and aggregate share rows used for CR and top-firm screens48 Trend seriesDefinition-aware HHI, CR4, and leading-participant trend rows8 anchors HHI decompositionParticipant share-squared contribution rows with residual bounds and source custody3 comparisons SourcesPublisher, citation, access date, and coverage records1 ReportsResearch brief metadata, source basis, and related market links1

Browse all public datasets

Source basis

This profile relies on public records and clearly labeled limitations.

StatCounter Global StatsSocial media referral share in United States of America, April 2023-April 2026Jul 20, 2026

View all sources

Methodology & limitations

Market: Social referrals
Geography: United States
Data vintage: 2026
Referral share is not platform audience, engagement, time spent, advertising revenue, or a legal market.

Read full methodology

Research actions

Read the sourceSocial media referral share in United States of America April 2026 Related reportFive Digital Gateways Review methodologyTest residual-share assumptions and threshold references Explain HHI change2023-2026 participant contribution bridge Export source notesOpen the machine-readable public data tables in the repository

Related reports

Five Digital GatewaysJul 20, 2026

View all reports

Source confidence

lowmediumhigh

Compute HHI from every category in each pinned April source row and keep the referral-traffic denominator explicit; label the result as estimated from public web-analytics data.

Read the full methodology

Keep exploring

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