Following a Brazilian court’s decision to ban X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky has experienced a surge in popularity.
The microblogging platform reported a record-breaking increase in user activity, with 500,000 new sign-ups in just two days.
Bluesky is now leading the free iPhone app rankings in Brazil, surpassing Meta’s Threads.
Bluesky, which became publicly available in February, has seen remarkable growth, especially notable given its smaller scale compared to established competitors.
As of May 2024, the platform boasted over 6 million users.
Originally launched in 2019 as a Twitter-backed initiative aimed at creating an open, decentralized social protocol, Bluesky has since operated independently.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s founder, stepped down from its board earlier this year.
In contrast, X has been entangled in a legal dispute with Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has pushed for the company to block certain accounts in response to concerns about election disinformation.
X announced its intention to cease operations in Brazil, but Justice de Moraes proceeded with the ban and threatened penalties against users employing VPNs to bypass it.
As the ban took effect, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appeared to transition his social media presence to Bluesky, among other platforms.
