Bluesky Posting Strike

Overview

Bluesky Posting Strike refers to an action taken by many users on the beta-test form of the social media platform Bluesky in mid-July 2023 following controversy around Bluesky's purported gaps in content moderation. In the summer of 2023, trolls on the platform were able to create accounts using racial slurs like the N-word in their profile and display names, upsetting many in the Bluesky community. A vast number of posters found the administration's perceived slowness to act and apparent lack of concern about hate speech highly troubling and pushed back by refusing to post and "going on strike."

Background

Bluesky's in-development beta product crossed over the threshold of 100,00 users in the early summer of 2023. However, the platform's content moderation and trust and safety teams purportedly remained skeletal and underdeveloped, according to many users. Conflicts between the user base and the developers and administration of the platform over faulty moderation led to several controversies leading up to the protest.^[1]

On July 13th, 2023, power user Aveta reported an account (seen below) that had been using the N-word in its profile for two weeks without getting stopped by Bluesky's content moderation.^[5] Pressure and posting from the community urged the developers to take action to solve the problem and to apologize for allowing it to happen in the first place. Following the discovery of the original account, others using slurs as profile names were found and reported. Bluesky subsequently took down the profiles in question.

In response to these developments, some users went on a "posting strike" and protested against the platform, filling feeds with content about the issue. Many users posted in support of the strike, including lav666 (seen below) who received over 100 likes for posting in solidarity with the movement.^[8]

Developments

LinkedIn Post

A July 13th, 2023, LinkedIn post by podcaster Scott Hirleman calling out Bluesky's developers, creators, and funders for the platform's perceived "anti-blackness problem" went viral, earning almost 1,000 likes on the professional networking platform (seen below).^[3] Others subsequently quoted and screenshotted the LinkedIn post or even posted on LinkedIn themselves about developments on Bluesky.

Bluesky Response

On July 14th, 2023, Bluesky made a post detailing changes to its community guidelines and policies surrounding hate speech.^[4] Some users, however, continued to call on the platform and major visible figures like CEO Jay Graber and developer Paul Frazee to officially apologize. They also asked the company to hire a committed content moderation team.

Online Reactions

On other platforms, particularly Twitter, posters reported back the news about Bluesky. For example, @ThatDangPhil (seen below, left) on July 13th tweeted about Bluesky's problems, gaining almost 60 likes in three days.^[6] A skeet from user dril discussing the strike also inspired much interaction and engagement on the platform (seen below right), earning over 3,600 likes on July 14th.^[7]

External References