A Brazil based court’s recent decision to ban X (formerly Twitter), appears to be having a positive effect on the platform’s competitors with Bluesky being one of them. Today, the microblogging platform shared that it has achieved “all-time-highs for activity.” The previous day, it added that 500,000 new users have signed up for the service in the last two days. Those additions also rocketed Bluesky to the very top of Brazil’s free iPhone app chart, followed by Meta’s Threads.
Bluesky’s growth and origins
Bluesky, which was launched to the public earlier this year and with a smaller base, did prove remarkable growth against X (formerly Twitter) and Threads. As of May 2024, it has gained over 6 million users. The platform, initially revealed in 2019 as a Twitter-backed effort to develop an open, free, decentralized social protocol, is an independent public benefit corporation. X (formerly Twitter) founder Jack Dorsey, who left the board earlier this year, had once supported it.
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Legal conflict between X and Brazil
Meanwhile, X has been involved in a heated legal fight with Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Court of Brazil. A dispute arose over X’s not being able to block some accounts as part of an effort to decrease false information about elections. The company announced earlier this month that it would no longer operate in Brazil. So, Justice Moraes said that unless the company changed its mind and named a Brazilian legal representative, it would be banned. The ban took effect this Friday, and Moraes also warned that users attempting to bypass it with VPNs will face fines.
As the ban took effect, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva invited his X followers to his other social media accounts, starting with Bluesky. The development underlines the changes in the dynamics of the social media landscape of Brazil because of ongoing legal and regulatory challenges faced by X.