As if we didn’t already have enough social media apps to keep track of, the kids are flocking to a new platform called Bluesky. But you won’t need to start from scratch here: Bluesky’s concept is a familiar one reminiscent of the OG Twitter days.
You remember the good old Twitter days, back before the app’s name was changed to a letter; before the algorithm began boosting rambling posts made by Elon Musk; before half the user base was taken over by Russian bot accounts; back when verified accounts were actually, you know, verified.
Bluesky has been making waves as a rising competitor to X. Since election day, it claims to have gained nearly 9 million new users, many of whom are ditching X for the new app. Bluesky now has more than 22 million users, which is still just a small fraction of the number of profiles active on X and competitor Meta Threads. (The market intelligence firm Sensor Tower estimated X had 318 million monthly users as of October, and Meta Threads sits around 275 million users.)
Like Twitter, the Bluesky app allows users to post short messages, images and videos to a newsfeed, which can then be responded to, reposted and liked by other users. Bluesky gives users more options for adjusting content settings or filters than other apps have, and “starter packs” make it easy for new users to mass-follow accounts that may be relevant to them.
While the election’s outcome proved positive for happy-go-lucky Bluesky, X saw 115,000 users deactivate their accounts in the first 24 hours after Election Day. It isn’t the first time that political strife has hurt X and helped Bluesky’s user base swell either; in September, two million users joined the app after the Brazilian Supreme Court suspended X from the country.
As X saw a user exodus in the weeks after the election, dozens of notable celebrities joined in on the deactivations. LeVar Burton, Mark Hamill, Barbara Streisand, Lizzo and Ben Stiller were just some of the Hollywood elites who have chosen to leave Elon Musk’s app in favor of Bluesky.
Based on past political statements made by each of those individuals and their choice to deactivate their X accounts after the election, it’s safe to assume their decision to leave X was related to growing dissatisfaction with the app’s billionaire owner, who is closely tied with President-elect Donald Trump.
But some celebrities, such as former CNN news anchor Don Lemon and Actress Gabrielle Union, declared their decision to leave X for Bluesky had to do with something else entirely.
X’s new terms of service, which went into effect on Nov. 15, include permissions that opt users into allowing their data to be used for Artificial Intelligence training. In a statement made Nov. 15, Bluesky announced that the app does not use content to train generative AI and “has no intention of doing so.”
Other changes to the terms of service include a requirement that all X-related lawsuits be brought in the Northern District of Texas or state courts in Tarrant County; another “liquidated damages” clause states that users could be held financially liable for using the app too much.
“With the recent and upcoming changes to the terms of service — and the return of volatile figures — I find myself at a crossroads facing a direction I can no longer fully support,” Union said in a statement announcing her decision to leave X. “I am committed to engaging in spaces that truly value inclusivity, respect and integrity in the digital world. Sometimes, that means recognizing when it’s time to step away.”
If that little tidbit about Musk moving all X litigation to North Texas stood out to you, you aren’t alone.
It’s not uncommon for companies to include “forum selection” clauses — clauses that outline where litigation involving their company is handled, often for efficiency purposes — in their user agreements, but several things stand out about Musk’s move into North Texas. For one, X’s headquarters recently moved to Bastrop, outside of Austin, which is not in the Northern District of Texas.
What the Northern District of Texas does have is conservative judges. Lots of them. And those conservative judges may be more likely to side with X and, by extension, Musk, in the event of a legal challenge.
North Texas courts are also a familiar space for Musk, who has had two previous cases presided over by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of Fort Worth. (Judge O’Connor, coincidentally, owns as much as $50,000 in Tesla stock, NPR reported last month.)
“In one of the suits, against the liberal watchdog group Media Matters, O’Connor has been issuing pro-Musk ruling after pro-Musk ruling,” NPR tech correspondent Bobby Allyn said on the All Things Considered podcast. “O’Connor has [recused himself] from one of the cases, but he remains on another one, the suit against Media Matters.”
Forum shopping may technically be a legal practice, but we will certainly be watching how future lawsuits involving X unfold from here.
And in the meantime, maybe we’ll catch you over where the skies are blue.