Social networking platform Bluesky recently announced that it has lifted its ban on sign-ups for heads of state, allowing various office holders to join the platform. This decision comes as major general elections are scheduled to take place in countries like the U.S. and India later this year.
Last year, during its invite-only period, Bluesky stated that it did not permit heads of state to sign up and requested users to contact the startup before inviting prominent figures. In a statement, the company said,
“We appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm in sending invitations, but our current policy is that we cannot accommodate heads of state to join us in our beta yet. This applies to recent/prominent heads of state as well.”
However, Bluesky opened up the platform for anyone to sign up in February after being in invite-only mode for almost a year. The company has faced challenges with moderation, including issues such as allowing racial slurs in handles. In response, Bluesky added moderation lists and automated moderation tools last December. Additionally, in the last month, they announced the Ozone tool, which allows users to create their own moderation and labeling services.
Now that Bluesky is allowing political heads to join the platform, there may be new moderation issues that the company has not yet encountered. It will need to be prepared for the possibility of facing different types of content and discussions.
Bluesky’s competitor, Threads, has taken a different approach by distancing itself from actively promoting political content. However, Bluesky users have the freedom to subscribe to different feeds, rather than relying on a central algorithm to view political content. This may lead to a diverse range of discussions and perspectives on the platform.
