The great X-odus is under way. More than 1 million new users have joined the social media platform Bluesky since the US election.
Many are seeking to escape Elon Musk’s X amid warnings from anti-hate speech campaign groups and the EU about misinformation and extremism on the platform.
But what exactly is Bluesky, why it is proving so popular, and who has already made the move?
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky is a social media platform where people can interact much as they do on X, posting, replying and messaging one another on a vertical user interface.
The recent influx of new users, largely from North America and the UK, has helped it reach more than 15 million users worldwide, up from 9 million in September, the company said.
How did it start out and who owns it?
Bluesky began as a project inside Twitter, after its chief executive, Jack Dorsey, announced in 2019 that the company would fund developers to create an “open and decentralised standard for social media”. Bluesky became an independent company in 2021 and is now primarily owned by the chief executive, Jay Graber.
How is it any different to X?
Bluesky offers users the chance to more heavily moderate their experience. This includes the ability to select the algorithm that drives what you see, helping create custom feeds, for example a feed for mutual followers, a feed for cat photos or one for your special interest.
Bluesky also allows users to have website addresses as their handles, which it anticipates could act as a verification tool for journalists, athletes and public figures who could have a company’s website in their handle.
How does Bluesky deal with trolls?
While X appears to deregulate the user experience – it recently changed its block function to allow users to see the posts of public accounts that have blocked them – Bluesky talks up its “anti-toxicity” features. These include allowing users to detach an original post of theirs from someone else’s quote post, preventing unwanted interactions.
Why are people leaving X for Bluesky?
The platform has previously benefited from dissatisfaction with X and its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, who is closely tied to the US president-elect Donald Trump’s successful election campaign.
Bluesky reported picking up 3 million new users in the week after X was suspended in Brazil in September and a further 1.2 million in the two days after X announced it would allow users to view posts from people who had blocked them.
X users have also reported an increase in bots, making the site difficult to use.
Who is already using it?
Several MPs have already made the move, including the safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, the Liberal Democrat technology spokesperson Layla Moran and Labour’s Diane Abbott.
The US actor Jamie Lee Curtis has been vocal about her decision to leave X after she confirmed she had deactivated her account in a post on Instagram.
The TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham, the comedian Dara Ó Briain and Countdown’s Susie Dent are also among the public figures on the network.
