Bluesky Gains Millions of Users in Brazil After X Ban by Judge

Bluesky has rapidly gained millions of users in Brazil following a judge's ban on Elon Musk’s X platform. This surge underscores Bluesky’s rising popularity as users seek alternatives to the restricted social media service. The dramatic shift reflects Bluesky’s expanding influence in the Brazilian market amidst regulatory changes affecting other major social media platforms.

Brazil’s recent ban on Elon Musk’s social media platform X has increased the visibility of its smaller competitor, Bluesky, as people seek alternatives for expressing their views.

Bluesky reported gaining two million new users in just one week. However, the app faced issues on Wednesday, with several users experiencing outages. Bluesky developer Paul Frazee acknowledged potential outages and performance issues in a post, stating, “We’ve never seen traffic like this. Please bear with us!”

On Saturday, Bluesky also noted that Brazilian users were setting new records for activity on the platform. This rise in Bluesky’s traffic follows a Brazilian Supreme Court justice’s decision to suspend X nationwide on Friday, which was confirmed by a Supreme Court panel on Monday.

Before the ban, X had indicated it would not comply with Brazilian court orders related to its content moderation policies or the appointment of a new legal representative in the country. Judge Alexandre de Moraes has also imposed daily fines on individuals or businesses in Brazil that use VPNs or other means to access X during its ban, according to local media.

X is estimated to have more than 22 million users in Brazil. As of Wednesday, Bluesky was the top free app on Brazil’s iOS App Store, followed by Threads, another X alternative from Meta Platforms, which also owns Facebook and Instagram. The official Threads account posted on Wednesday, “We’re so back,” though no additional details were provided. Bluesky was announced in 2019 as a project to create an open, decentralized social protocol, supported by Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter—rebranded as X after Musk’s acquisition. Bluesky became an independent entity in 2021, and Dorsey severed ties with it earlier this year.

Bluesky, Threads, and the decentralized network Mastodon are competing to challenge X as the leading microblogging platform. These companies have seen increased user numbers amid controversies surrounding Elon Musk’s 2022 Twitter takeover and subsequent platform changes. Bluesky’s user sign-ups in the U.K. surged last month during Musk’s controversial comments about nationwide riots there.

Despite some advertisers and users leaving X, none of the alternatives have emerged as a significant threat to X. Threads appears to be the closest competitor, with over 200 million monthly active users, according to a post by Instagram head Adam Mosseri in August. In May, Musk reported that X had reached 600 million monthly active users and approximately 300 million daily active users.

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Source: CNBC‍