BlueSky, an alternative micro-blogging platform to X (formally known as Twitter), has experienced a meteoric rise in users since the US election.
Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump had seen opponents quitting X, the platform Musk bought in 2022 for $44 billion. Many of those leaving have gravitated to BlueSky.
But the big moment came last week, when President-elect Trump selected Musk to serve in his new administration.
That triggered an avalanche of people and organisations to either move, or open a second account, with rival BlueSky.
In September, BlueSky had around nine million users. Yesterday the platform passed the 20 million mark. Since last week, people have been joining at the rate of around one million per day.
For the fledgling social media minnow, it is an exciting time, but one that will come with new pressures and responsibility.
BlueSky’s chief exec, Jay Graber, admitted last night how small the company is and how mammoth its responsibilities.
“Bluesky’s team consists of about 20 full-time employees. That’s a million users here per employee now,” she wrote in a thread post.
Under EU law, BlueSky must actively protect minors, counter illegal content and goods on its platform.
“BlueSky, like all online platforms in the EU, needs to comply with the general obligations of the Digital Services Act”, Thomas Regnier, the European Commission Digital Economy Spokesperson, told NewsIreland.eu.
And as BlueSky grows, that will become harder, more complex and expensive.
“We’re hiring”, CEO Jay Graber insisted, although the company currently only lists two vacancies on its jobs site.
But BlueSky believes it has a way of making EU requirements manageable: By leaning on AI technology, but also by relying on users themselves.
“Our approach to moderation is three-fold: automated filtering, manual admin actions, and community labelling”, the company says.
Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, social media platforms must counter fake goods, illegal activities and services. Users should be able to flag up concerns. The law also demands platforms especially work to protect children.
The more people using the platform, the more pressure on the technology, and on its manual moderators, to keep on top of any illicit posts.
Content moderation also needs to be transparent. Those hit with a limitation, suspension or ban must be provided with information for the decision and be offered the right to appeal.
BlueSky already has processes in place to do this.
The EU also insists on restrictions on advertising, especially for minors, but also to ban users being targeted for example for religious or political beliefs, or based on their sexual preference. BlueSky currently doesn’t use advertising on the platform, but as it looks at ways to make more money, it might be tempted in future.
At the moment, BlueSky is still tiny compared to X which claims to have 100 million users in the European Union.
And that also has implications for EU law.
“BlueSky is not designated as a Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act, as they do not meet the quantitative threshold for designation (45 million monthly active users in the EU)”, said Thomas Regnier.
Very large platforms, or VLOPs, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X, are, under EU law, obliged to take an even more active approach to protecting users. Their scrutiny also comes under the direct eye of the European Commission.
Very large online platforms must “prevent abuse of their systems by taking risk-based action, including oversight through independent audits of their risk management measures”, the European Commission states.
“Platforms must mitigate against risks such as disinformation or election manipulation, cyber violence against women, or harms to minors online. These measures must be carefully balanced against restrictions of freedom of expression, and are subject to independent audits.”
BlueSky, like other smaller platforms, is the responsibility of 27 national regulators across the European Union, including Coimisiún na Meán in Ireland.
At its current rate of growth, BlueSky could be catapulted into the hall of giants within months.
BlueSky is “still significantly below the threshold. I would however confirm that we are carefully monitoring market developments”, Thomas Regnier confirmed.
BlueSky did not respond to a request for information on its policies in line with EU law. But it does provide information about its moderation policy here.