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Bluesky

Website:

bsky.app/
Location:

Seattle, WA
Type:

Social media platform
Formation:

2019
CEO:

Jay Graber

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Bluesky is a social media platform created in 2019 as a project of Jack Dorsey at Twitter (later known as X) before it spun off into an independent company in 2021. Bluesky has been accused of catering to left-of-center activism and reporting, especially following a number of left-leaning Twitter users switching to Bluesky following the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk in 2022. 1 2

Background

Bluesky was initially created as a project in 2019 by then-Twitter (later changed to X) CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019 to “decentralize” the main platform. 3 4 In 2021, software engineer Jay Graber became the head of the Bluesky project. 5 That same year, Bluesky separated from Twitter to become an independent company. In an interview, Graber alleged, “I felt like it would take a long time to get anything done within Twitter.” 6

In February 2022, Dorsey, who had previously resigned as Twitter’s CEO in November 2021, joined Bluesky’s board. 7

In October 2022, billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased Twitter, which he later renamed X, for $44 billion. 6 Earlier in February 2022, Bluesky had been reformed as a Public Benefit LLC. 8

Bluesky was opened to the public in February 2024. By September, Bluesky had reached 10 million registered users. By January 2025, it reached over 25 million registered users. By August of that year, it reached just over 38 million registered users. 9 10

In May 2024, Dorsey resigned from the board of Bluesky. In an interview, Forsey criticized the company for “literally repeating all the mistakes [Twitter] made” such as allegedly failing to develop a “decentralized” structure. 11

Accusations of Left-of-Center Bias

Bluesky has been accused of catering to left-of-center voices and as an alternative to former X (formerly Twitter) users following Elon Musk’s purchase of the latter in 2022 and President Donald Trump’s reelection in November 2024. Several activists and left-of-center, and even news outlets such as The Guardian, cancelled their X accounts and moved over to Bluesky. 1 2

In April 2025, Manhattan Institute fellow James Meigs called the move users were making from X to Bluesky, “an expression of the left’s growing hypersensitivity to ideas leftists find offensive.” He continued: “The site’s leftward tilt is vertiginous; where the most popular accounts on X feature a mix of entertainment, sports, and political figures, Bluesky is drenched in politics […] A shocking number of posts celebrate violence. For example, alleged assassin Luigi Mangione is the subject of breathless, teen-idol-level fan worship.” 1

References

  1. Meigs, James B. “Bluesky: The Online Cone of Silence.” April 2025. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://www.commentary.org/articles/james-meigs/bluesky-progressives-social-media/.
  2. Kruse, Michael. “I Was Canceled by Bluesky. And I Still Don’t Know Why.” Politico. December 12, 2024. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/12/12/bluesky-twitter-x-alternative-toxic-00193862
  3. Silberling, Amanda; Corrall, Cody; Stringer, Alyssa. “What is Bluesky? Everything to know about the X competitor.” Tech Crunch. September 23, 2025. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/23/what-is-bluesky-everything-to-know-about-the-x-competitor/.
  4. Ambrose, Tom. “What is Bluesky and why are so many people suddenly leaving X for the platform?.” The Guardian. November 16, 2024. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/16/what-is-bluesky-and-why-are-so-many-people-suddenly-leaving-x-for-the-platform-elon-musk.
  5. Campbell, Ian Carlos. “Twitter’s decentralized social network project finally has a leader.” The Verge. August 16, 2021. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/16/22627435/twitter-bluesky-lead-jay-graber-decentralized-social-web.
  6. “How the Open Social Web Will Change Everything, with Bluesky’s Jay Graber.” Dot Social. October 1, 2024. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://dot-social.simplecast.com/episodes/jay-graber/transcript.
  7. Dang, Sheila. “Twitter-funded social media project Bluesky adds Jack Dorsey to board.” Reuters. February 7, 2022. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-funded-social-media-project-bluesky-adds-jack-dorsey-board-2022-02-08/.
  8. Graber, Jay. “Announcing Bluesky PBLLC.” Bluesky. February 7, 2022. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://bsky.social/about/blog/2-7-2022-overview.
  9. Silberling, Amanda. “Bluesky is now open for anyone to join.” Tech Crunch. February 6, 2024. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/06/bluesky-is-now-open-for-anyone-to-join/.
  10. “Bluesky Statistics: How Many People Use Bluesky?.” August 18, 2025. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://backlinko.com/bluesky-statistics.
  11. Solana, Mike. “The End of Social Media: An Interview With Jack Dorsey.” Pirate Wires. May 9, 2024. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://www.piratewires.com/p/interview-with-jack-dorsey-mike-solana.
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Bluesky


Seattle, WA