Microblogging site, Bluesky, has hit the nine million user mark, as X/ Twitter’s Brazilian ban take hold.
The platform, which launched to the wider public in February, has gained traction in Brazil, where X/ Twitter has now been banned.
The news comes as X/Twitter continues to shed advertisers reflecting concerns about misinformation and its CEO’s erratic behavior grows.
Brazilians Migrate to Bluesky
The platform revealed in a post that 85% of its new users are Brazilian and that the platform had grown by more than 2.6 million users in a week.
The mass migration came after a Supreme Court judge upheld the X/ Twitter ban – and faced a public tirade by Elon Musk. Bluesky immediately went to the top of the free iPhone app charts in Brazil.
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Interoperability Incoming
Bluesky is being touted as similar to Twitter before Musk’s takeover with one new users quipping it’s “like Twitter without the fascism”. In August, it revealed new “anti-toxicity features”.
But the premise behind the platform also sets it apart. The network has been described as “building an open foundation for the social internet”. It is, in its own words, a “social app that is designed to not be controlled by a single company”. Central to this is a federation algorithm called the Authenticated Transfer Protocol. This means users can easily move data like their friend groups and followers over to competing social networks.
CEO Jay Graber has the public support of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. It offers similar features to his old Twitter with video support and trending topics “coming soon”.
The Bluesky team has admitted that the sudden surge in users has caused some technical issues. It has also shared that it is adding to its team and told its new users that it is “here to stay”.
