EU Says Bluesky Is Violating Information Disclosure Rules

Bluesky, the rapidly growing social media platform, is violating EU regulations by failing to disclose important details, a European Commission spokesperson told reporters during a daily briefing on Monday.

“All platforms in the EU even the smallest ones which are below the threshold, which is the case for Bluesky,  have to have a dedicated page on their website where it says how many user numbers they have in the EU and where they are legally established. This is not the case for Bluesky as of today,” the spokesperson said.

He also stated that since Bluesky falls below the threshold and is not classified as a Very Large Platform under the EU's Digital Services Act, the commission has not yet reached out to the company. Instead, it has contacted the 27 national governments to check "if they can find any trace of Bluesky."

Bluesky did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

What is Bluesky?

Bluesky, a platform championed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, transitioned from an invitation-only format to public access in February. This initial invite-only period allowed the site to develop moderation tools and various features. The platform shares similarities with Musk's X, offering both a "discover" feed and a chronological feed for users' followed accounts. Additionally, users can send direct messages, pin posts, and access "starter packs," which provide curated lists of people and custom feeds to follow.

In mid-November, Bluesky reported a surge in total users, reaching 15 million, an increase from approximately 13 million at the end of October. This growth has been partly fueled by X users seeking alternative platforms for expressing their thoughts and engaging in discussions online. Notably, this post-election increase in users is not the first instance where Bluesky has benefited from users migrating away from X. The platform gained 2.6 million users in the week following X's ban in Brazil in August, with 85 per cent of those new users coming from Brazil. In October, Bluesky attracted about 500,000 new users in a single day when X announced that blocked accounts would be able to view a user's public posts.

Written with inputs from agencies