Social media platform Bluesky has gained over a million new users since the recent U.S. presidential election, attracting those dissatisfied with the changes at X, formerly known as Twitter, under billionaire Elon Musk’s ownership.
On Wednesday, Bluesky reported reaching more than 15 million users, up from around nine million in September. Founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019, Bluesky has increasingly become a preferred platform for left-leaning users disillusioned with what they view as X’s rightward shift under Musk.
Many Bluesky users cited Musk’s alignment with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and rising hateful content on X as reasons for switching platforms. Billionaire Mark Cuban, who supported Vice President Kamala Harris during the election, posted, “Hello Less Hateful World,” on Bluesky earlier this week.
On Wednesday, The Guardian announced it would stop posting on X, citing “disturbing content” and “toxic media,” including racism and conspiracy theories, as influencing its decision.
“The U.S. presidential election campaign only highlighted what we’ve known for some time: X has become a toxic media platform under Elon Musk’s influence on political discourse,” The Guardian said in a statement. “We believe our resources can be better spent promoting our journalism on other platforms.”
Bluesky has positioned itself as a refuge for disaffected liberals. When reports surfaced that Musk would be watching the election results alongside Trump, Bluesky posted on X that none of its team would “be sitting with a presidential candidate tonight and giving them direct access to shape what you see online.”
Since Musk acquired X in October 2022, the platform has seen several waves of users leaving, though it still has a significantly larger user base than Bluesky. Following the U.S. election, some 115,000 U.S.-based users deactivated their X accounts the next day—the largest single-day drop under Musk, according to internet analytics firm Similarweb.
