The microblogging platform Bluesky has seen a significant influx of new users that have come to its platform shortly after the US election ended with Donald Trump claiming the win for the Republican party.

This platform is considered a direct rival to X, formerly Twitter, and it was founded by Jack Dorsey.

Estimates point to a total of 700,000 new users coming to X’s rival in the week that followed the electoral event. As a result, Bluesky reportedly boasts a total of 14.5 million users at the moment – a 61.1% jump compared to the number reported by the end of September.

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Axel Bruns, a social media expert, highlighted that this ongoing exodus may be prompted as X users are seeking shelter from the spike in political activism, hate speech, right-wing extremism, and misinformation that appears to be proliferating within the social network owned by Elon Musk. For example, the platform seems to have seen an uptick in posts favorable to Nazis and Adolf Hitler, with some of these posts getting millions of views and thousands of likes.

“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,” Bruns said.

“The more liberal kind of Twitter community has really now escaped from there and seems to have moved en masse to Bluesky.”

The eXodus Started After Musk Pledge His Allegiance with Trump in July

Musk publicly endorsed Trump’s campaign publicly in July this year and his influence played a major role in getting the former President reelected. Trump’s account had been suspended on Twitter when Dorsey was the head of the social media company and Musk reinstated it in November 2022.

Prior to Trump’s candidacy for this election, Musk kept his political views relatively discrete (but was a strong supporter of climate change action). However, something shifted when the former President was almost assassinated during a public speech in Pennsylvania.

Musk’s unexpected political activism has kept increasing in the weeks prior to the election. This has made the platform an uncomfortable place for people who do not share his views on controversial matters like abortion, gender rights, and other similar subjects. Musk himself has spread proven misinformation dozens of times and even approvingly comments on posts supportive of the antisemitic Great Replacement theory.

YouTuber Hank Green recently published a breakdown of just one day of misinformation from Musk if you want to see some clear cut examples.

Statistics show that X has seen its active user base decline by 20% since Musk’s acquisition.

“After January, when X could be owned by a de facto member of the Trump administration, its functions as a Trump propaganda outlet and far-right radicalization machine could be accelerated,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian and professor at New York University who had 250,000 followers on X but has already picked up 21,000 on Bluesky.

The Bluesky Advantage

On the other side of the aisle, Bluesky has tried to position itself as a neutral social media platform. The platform relies on the principles of decentralization to foster a much more adequate environment for users to express their ideas freely.

It allows the interoperability of different communities and services rather than trying to centralize everything under a corporate umbrella – which is the model adopted by most platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

It is easier to enforce content policies and prevent harmful behavior and the spread of misinformation with the help of decentralization, according to Bruns. The platform has robust systems in place to block or suspend accounts that have repeatedly violated these policies and content is curated to identify false or misleading claims rapidly.

“Bluesky really feels like a throwback to those days of the early excitement about social media in many ways, and that’s what, at the moment, attracts quite a few people,” Bruns said. “It just makes it more vibrant, more active place.”

The platform has also been steadily adding new features to make it more user-friendly and competitive with X including direct messaging and video compatibility. Unlike Threads, the Twitter-like interface created by Meta Platforms (META), Bluesky has carved out a distinct identity as a haven for those fleeing the toxicity of X.

Bluesky Brings On Board Former Twitter Exec to Enforce Content Policies

“Our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see,” the company said in a blog post. “On an open social network like Bluesky, you can shape your experience for yourself.”

This is not the first time that Bluesky has benefitted from an exodus from X. Back in September when the platform owned by Musk was banned in Brazil, over 3 million users came to it looking for a place to express their thoughts.

Meanwhile, Dorsey’s rival platform saw another influx of 1.2 million users after X announced that posts from blocked accounts would still be visible.

However, the 2024 US election seems to be, by far, the most influential event that has driven users to jump off the X boat.

Bluesky ramped up its content moderation team by bringing on board the former Trust and Safety leader from Twitter, Aaron Rodericks, in February this year.

Dorsey’s company vowed to keep the community safe by avoiding the spread of disinformation and fake news and removing posts that encouraged a disruption of the voting process.

“Our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see,” the company said in a blog post. “On an open social network like Bluesky, you can shape your experience for yourself.”

Entire Communities Appear to Be Pivoting to Bluesky

Bluesky is already attracting influential figures to its platform who see the benefit of participating and engaging with others in a less toxic environment.

New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who returned to Bluesky this week, captured this sentiment in a post that was liked by 27,000 people: “Good GOD it’s nice to be in a digital space with other real human beings.”

In addition, a large number of fans of the pop superstar Taylor Swift reportedly abandoned X after Musk pledge his allegiance to Trump.

“I love the idea of building a new community here and would love not to have to support Elon in any way,” said Justin, a Swiftie who goes by @justin-the-baron.swifties.social on Bluesky. “Elon is of course a big Trump supporter, which doesn’t align with Taylor’s values or the values of Swifties.”

Irene Kim, an organizer with the Swifties for Kamala group, commented that the misogyny and hate speech that has proliferated on X since Trump’s victory has been a major driver for Swifties to seek refuge on Bluesky.

“After the election, the timeline was full of Swifties getting DMs from Trump supporters threatening rape or sexual assault and making sexually violent comments gloating because Trump won,” Kim said.

“Bluesky literally feels like a social media app again, where I’m just connected with my community or like other interesting posts. I feel like people aren’t as geared up to fight you.”

Bluesky’s decentralized model and commitment to content moderation have given it a significant edge over its rivals in the aftermath of the US Presidential Election.

Also read: Meta’s Threads Finally Adds Following Feed, Other Vital Features to Staunch Bleeding User Base

Users appear to believe that X has become fertile ground for misinformation and far-right extremism under Musk’s leadership while Threads is still struggling with moderation issues. In the meantime, Jack Dorsey’s new microblogging platform has positioned itself as a trusted alternative.

“If I, one day, can never open [X] again because all the Swifties are here, it’s a massive triumph,” said Justin.

As users continue to flee X in search of a more reliable and welcoming social media experience, Bluesky may emerge as the platform of choice for those seeking refuge from the toxicity and misinformation that has come to define Musk’s X.