Bluesky joins Threads to court users frustrated by Meta’s balancing issues

Social media startup Bluesky is taking this time. Amidst ongoing moderation issues affecting X competitor Instagram Threads, established X competitor Bluesky has created an account on the new Meta site. By doing so, the startup aims to capitalize on the conversations that are now taking place on Threads, where many users are threatening to leave Bluesky’s Threads over this latest set of issues.

On Wednesday, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said that the company was looking into the network’s oversight problems, but no solution has yet emerged. And Instagram has not explained what caused people to be demoted and banned from their Threads, or have their accounts deleted or falsely flagged as belonging to young users. However, many suspect that the company is relying on AI-powered moderation systems, which may not be performing well.

As discussions about leaving Bluesky’s Threads increased, Bluesky created an account and reached out to Threads users, tweeting “Heard people were talking about us … so we created an account to share more information! “

The company then specified a few key ways Bluesky differs from Threads in terms of moderation. Similar to other social networks, it uses a moderation team that follows a set of community guidelines. However, Bluesky notes that his team won’t tone down the content if it’s about politics — something Meta has chosen to avoid ahead of the contentious US election season.

In February, Meta said it would no longer recommend political content across Threads and Instagram, saying users would only see this content in their feeds if they actively followed political accounts. That decision led to a backlash from creators, which saw hundreds sign a letter against the Meta movement, saying that restricting access to such content “jeopardizes the reach of marginalized people who share their lived experiences on Meta platforms.”

In addition, Bluesky shared in Threads that its rating system is different from other social networks, as it introduces an “open stackable ecosystem” that allows private organizations to publish their own rating tools that users can voluntarily sign up to filter their feeds. to what they like.

The company also promoted its support for open source code, account portability, and algorithmic selection and shared one of its initiatives (account suggestions for who to follow).

Whether the proposed migration of Threads will have a significant impact on any social network remains to be seen. Threads may face balance problems before any deviation reaches a critical mass. And while Threads users may create accounts on Bluesky to kick the tires, they may not choose to stay given that the network size is always small with Threads. The former now tops 10.7 million users, but Threads now sees more than 200 million monthly active users.

Others, on the other hand, may choose to stay in Threads regardless of current issues. For some, that’s because they’re still bitter about how long Bluesky stayed an invite-only social network, joking about how they’re still waiting for their invite.

Even if Bluesky can direct a large number of Threads users to its site, as it did when X was banned in Brazil, it will still benefit from the user feedback it collects. For example, among the hundreds of responses it receives, people point to the need for better search in the Bluesky application and communication with ActivityPub, the protocol that powers Mastodon and soon, Threads, when it is fully integrated.

Bluesky responded with, “We’re reading all the feedback you have and taking notes,” alongside a link to download its app.