Bluesky has become a tremendously popular destination for those leaving Elon Musk’s X since the election, with millions of new accounts joining the platform in recent weeks.
Many of the platform’s early dedicated posters were trans people, who felt increasingly unsafe on X after Musk took over and rolled back content moderation.
“Bluesky was built by trans shitposters and will always be for the dolls,” wrote one of many people calling on the influx of new users to not allow the platform to descend into the same transphobia now frequent on X.
Under Musk, X has allowed anti-trans rhetoric to propagate, labeling the word “cis” as hate speech, shifting how blocks work, and interacting with prominent anti-trans accounts like Libs of TikTok.
Musk also openly lashed out at his transgender daughter on the platform.
But as Bluesky grows, it is also drawing anti-trans figures.
Recently, the Guardian’s announcement it will no longer share on X prompted many of its columnists to shift to Bluesky.
The U.K. paper is known to employ several columnists with gender-critical views who were among the new sign-ups.
Bluesky users were quick to tell anti-trans figures to stay on X.
“If you’re ‘gender critical’ then go back to the sewer you helped to create,” wrote one user.
“You won’t have a great time here as this is a pro LGBTQ space,” wrote another.
While Bluesky’s trans community and its allies are united in their desire to keep the platform a safe space, not everyone supported attempts to bully anti-trans voices off the platform.
Some see engaging with them as recreating tiresome X discourse, preferring a tactic of silence that one user called “the Bluesky welcome.”
Alongside the cold shoulder, users are proactively protecting their feeds and follows, sharing blocklists, as well as less aggressive labeling lists, to combat the bigotry that seeps into every internet platform.
“A Very British Bigotry,” a blocklist created in April made up of British anti-trans accounts, gained traction on the platform this week.
But even that has been considered an inelegant fix, with criticism of the blanket nature of blocklists circulating, pointing out they can often be inaccurate.
“I’m on blocklists for transphobia, antisemitism and homophobia which, as a gay trans Jewish convert, you’ve gotta admit is kinda impressive,” wrote one user.
But despite their crudeness, the blocklists may well be achieving their goal.
While few conservative journalists have made accounts, most of the anti-trans voices on the platform appear to be underperforming relative to their prominence on X.
Meanwhile, trans people and vocal allies are racking up followers, as some reported getting better and more engagement on Bluesky, despite the smaller user base.
Prominent trans journalists and vocal trans allies like Katelyn Burns and Michael Hobbes have managed to amass between one-third and one-half of the followers they have on X.
Users also reported that Bluesky is better than X at cracking down on overt transphobia.
“Someone I was following (now blocked) was saying some transphobic stuff and is already suspended,” posted one account in early November.
Meanwhile, some trans people reported unfair moderation taken against them ] by the platform, like one trans poster who was labeled as promoting self-harm.
But despite the moderation hiccups, Bluesky posters are still fiercely protective of the site, conscious that given the mass exodus from X, it wouldn’t be surprising if more anti-trans voices flocked to the site.
The site has had multiple instances where it rallied over concerns about figures joining (even if the panic has been fallacious).
Last week, false reports circulated that far-right activist Laura Loomer had joined Bluesky and been suspended. In fact, the account was suspended for impersonating Loomer.
Recently, a user warned that a journalist who has promoted a moral panic over healthcare for trans youth may soon be on Bluesky, sharing his X posts about migrating and noting someone grabbing his user handle already.
“We need to make this website unusable for [them]” wrote one poster.
Meanwhile, a user has ensured that Daily Wire journalist Matt Walsh will not be able to use his name as a handle if he ever decides to join Bluesky.
Their bio reads “I’m not Matt Walsh. I just wanted to secure his username so he can’t use it here. Trans rights Matt.”
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