Leftists distraught at the results of the 2024 presidential election are fleeing the X platform in protest of Elon Musk, but they cannot seem to decide where to go instead.
According to The Guardian, which today announced that it would also be leaving X because of the “disturbing content promoted or found on the platform,” Bluesky has gained 700,000 members since Donald Trump swept to victory against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
The report states:
Social media platform Bluesky has picked up more than 700,000 new users in the week since the US election, as users seek to escape misinformation and offensive posts on X.
The influx, largely from North America and the UK, has helped Bluesky reach 14.5 million users worldwide, up from 9 million in September, the company said.
Social media researcher Axel Bruns said the platform offered an alternative to X, formerly Twitter, including a more effective system for blocking or suspending problematic accounts and policing harmful behaviour.
“It’s become a refuge for people who want to have the kind of social media experience that Twitter used to provide, but without all the far-right activism, the misinformation, the hate speech, the bots and everything else,” he said.
“The more liberal kind of Twitter community has really now escaped from there and seems to have moved en masse to Bluesky.”
Bluesky was founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey back in 2019, although it later became an independent entity. Dorsey has since left the company board and urged users to remain on X.
It claims to give people additional control over their online experience, although its real attraction for leftists is its apparent ability to “police harmful behavior.”
However, leftists are already encountering the same problems faced by conservatives before Elon Musk bought Twitter.
While there were various free speech social media platforms including Parler, Gettr and Truth Social, the market remained fragmented between them and people were unable to coalesce around one particular platform.
The rise of Bluesky will also come as a blow to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who launched Threads back in 2023 as a competitor to Twitter.
As Musk guaranteed users freedom of speech, Zuckerberg promised users the aggressive censorship and “content moderation” already implemented against Facebook and Instagram.
“X is an echo chamber”
Meanwhile AOC on Bluesky: pic.twitter.com/Gxy3F9k0qR
— Expose Them (@ExposeDarkDeeds) November 12, 2024
Many users consequently flocked there, although the platform has failed to gain any significant traction and is nothing more than a left-wing echo chamber.
Another platform frequented by those disillusioned with X is Mastodon, an open-source social network with aggressive censorship policies.
However, it appears that no single platform has yet to capture a significant market share. Given that X remains the only platform serving as a genuine public for all ideas and interests, don’t be surprised if these “disillusoned” leftists end up coming back with their tail between their legs.