Barack Obama joins Bluesky to defend Obamacare

Former US President Barack Obama has joined Bluesky, gaining over 240,000 followers in a single day.

Obama is the latest high-profile politician to join the decentralized microblogging platform described as an alternative to X, which is owned by Elon Musk, a billionaire adviser to President Donald Trump.

In a post dated March 23rd, the former president highlighted the merits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, which he signed into law 15 years earlier.

“Figured I’d hop on here today for the 15th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act,” Obama said.

“With everything going on right now, it’s easy to feel like regular folks can’t make a difference – but the ACA is a reminder that change is possible when we fight for progress,” he said.

Figured I’d hop on here today for the 15th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. With everything going on right now, it’s easy to feel like regular folks can’t make a difference – but the ACA is a reminder that change is possible when we fight for progress.

undefined Barack Obama (@barackobama.bsky.social) March 23, 2025 at 1:08 PM

Bluesky COO Rose Wang confirmed that the account belongs to Obama, who made several Obamacare-related posts on his first day using the platform. By the following day, the former president had gained over 240,000 followers.

Confirmed!

undefined Rose 🌹 (@rose.bsky.team) March 23, 2025 at 2:11 PM

He joins a number of other Democrat and left-leaning American politicians who started using the platform, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who became the first person on Bluesky with a million followers.

Bernie Sanders, Gavin Newsom, Elizabeth Warren, and Al Green are some of the others with the presence on Bluesky, which continues to attract users amid a perceived rightward shift of X under Musk.

Users are also seeking alternatives to platforms owned by the ultra-wealthy, with Bluesky CEO Jay Graber previously describing the service as “billionaire-proof.”

While it has seen rapid growth in recent months, at just over 33 million, Bluesky’s user base remains a fraction of that of rivals like X and Meta-owned social media platforms, which boast.

At almost 131 million followers, Obama has the second-biggest account on X, second only to Musk. He also has 55 million followers on Facebook and 36.5 million followers on Instagram.