Bluesky at a crossroads as users petition to ban Jesse Singal over anti-trans views, harassment
Now with 25 million users, Bluesky is facing a test that will determine whether or not its platform will still be seen as a safe space and place of refuge from the toxicity of X. In recent days, a large number of users on Bluesky have been urging the company to ban one newcomer for his opinions and works shared both on and off the platform.
Writer and podcast host Jesse Singal joined Bluesky 12 days ago to the horror of much of the Bluesky community. Singal has been cataloged by GLAAD’s Accountability Project for his writings on transgender issues and other matters. The GLAAD project “catalogs anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and discriminatory actions of politicians, commentators, organization heads, religious leaders, and legal figures, who have used their platforms, influence, and power to spread misinformation and harm LGBTQ people.”
He is now the most blocked user on the social network, and user outrage over his participation on the platform is growing. People are demanding that Bluesky take a stand: it’s either a place that promises it won’t host bad actors like this, or it’s a place that promises not to inflate the reach of such bad actors thanks to its various moderation tools.
It cannot be both.
In Bluesky’s earlier days, trans users, like many other marginalized groups, and Black and queer users, flocked to the social network from Twitter (now called X) after Elon Musk bought it and began to promote more right-wing and conservative views. Bluesky has many custom tools that allow people to control their own social networking experience, including block lists, layered moderation, custom feeds, custom algorithms, labeling services, and more. This allows users to do things like block groups of users they may not want to interact with — like MAGA supporters, for instance, who can be found on a dedicated block list.