Bluesky Reaches Record Download Peaks Following Brazil’s Prohibition of X

The prohibition of X (once known as Twitter) by a Brazilian judge appears to have played into the hands of its competitors, with Bluesky benefiting the most.

The service noted for its brief posts shared news late on Friday that it had witnessed its highest-ever user engagement levels, accompanied by an influx of half a million new registrants over the last 48 hours. Currently, it tops the list of free iPhone applications in Brazil, eclipsing Meta’s Threads, which is in second place.

Upon observing these developments, Bluesky’s chief, Jay Graber, commended Brazil on its selection, stating, “good job Brazil, you made the right choice.”

This surge in growth is notably remarkable for a service that was only widely introduced in February and has humorously embraced its modest scale compared to competitors like X and Threads by labeling itself as “the short king of social apps.” As of May 2024, the company reports it boasts in excess of 6 million users.

Originally unveiled in 2019 as a venture supported by Twitter to develop an open, decentralized social framework, Bluesky has evolved into an autonomous entity devoted to public benefit, with Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey stepping down from the board earlier this year.

X, under Elon Musk’s leadership, finds itself entangled in a growing legal controversy in Brazil, stemming from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s demands that the platform block certain profiles amidst broader actions against what Moraes identifies as election misinformation.

Earlier in the month, X disclosed its intentions to cease its Brazilian operations. This announcement came before Moraes’s ultimatum that the platform would face a ban if it failed to appoint a legal representative within the nation. He executed this threat on Friday while also warning of fines for users attempting to bypass the ban through VPN usage.

As the implementation of the ban neared, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seemingly said goodbye to his X audience by directing them to his profiles on alternative social channels — beginning with Bluesky.