Bluesky adds half a million users after X policy changes
Bluesky reported adding 500,000 users in a day after X announced changes to its block function and AI training policy.
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Bluesky reported adding 500,000 users in a day after X announced changes to its block function and AI training policy.
The decentralized social network Bluesky continues to benefit from controversies surrounding the rival platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk, reporting that it added thousands of new users in just one day.
In a post on Thursday (October 17th) morning, the X alternative welcomed “the 100k+ people who have joined Bluesky in the last 12 hours,” followed by a post later in the evening claiming half a million new users were added in the 24-hour period.
update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯 welcome, いらっしゃいませ, 환영, bem-vindo! 🦋🎉
undefined Bluesky (@bsky.app) October 17, 2024 at 6:00 PM
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This comes after X announced it was changing the way its block function works. It will now allow blocked accounts to view public content posted by users who blocked them.
“Today, block can be used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about those they’ve blocked,” the company said in a post, adding that the move will ensure “greater transparency.”
Blocked accounts will still be unable to engage with users who blocked them, including liking, replying, or reposting their content.
A self-described free speech absolutist, Musk has long expressed his disdain for a block function, previously saying that “it makes no sense” and that it should be replaced by “a stronger form of mute.”
Both Apple’s App Store and Google Play require social networks to provide in-app ability to block users, which may be the only reason that prevented X from removing the functionality entirely.
Soon we’ll be launching a change to how the block function works.
undefined Engineering (@XEng) October 16, 2024
If your posts are set to public, accounts you have blocked will be able to view them, but they will not be able to engage (like, reply, repost, etc.).
Critics described the move as a win for “stalkers” and “harassers,” while others pointed out that some users blocked abusive accounts for real security and safety concerns.
In another move that faced backlash, X also changed its terms of service, removing the ability for users to opt out of having their content used to train Grok, the platform’s generative AI model.
The updated rules state that users now automatically grant X a "worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense)” to use their content for any purpose, including “for use with and training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models.”
The new terms of service will come into effect on November 15th.
Bluesky, which started as an invitation-only app and opened up to everyone earlier this year, is now the third-largest microblogging network after X and Meta-owned Threads. It gained millions of new users after X was temporarily banned in Brazil.
The app was founded in 2021 by Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former chief executive of Twitter, which Musk rebranded to X following his takeover of the platform in 2022.