Musk moves out as Bluesky rises to fill Brazil’s Twitter void

Brazil’s Supreme Court is set to vote today on whether to ban X, formerly known as Twitter, after it suspended Elon Musk’s social media platform over misinformation concerns, prompting Brazilian users to flock to alternative platforms like Bluesky.

The ongoing conflict between Musk and Brazil’s authorities is rooted in issues of misinformation and legal compliance.

The feud escalated in April when Justice Alexandre Moraes ordered the suspension of several X accounts accused of spreading disinformation, many of which were linked to supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

X’s failure to appoint a new legal representative in Brazil by a court-imposed deadline only exacerbated the situation, leading to the platform’s suspension.

Justice Moraes justified the ban by citing X’s non-compliance with Brazilian law, specifically its failure to curb the spread of disinformation.

Musk, who positions himself as a staunch defender of free speech, responded by accusing Justice Moraes of undermining democracy.

Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes https://t.co/eqbowALCeu

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 30, 2024

X has long been one of the most popular platforms in Brazil, serving as a key space for political discourse, social movements, and everyday communication.

With X now in jeopardy, millions of Brazilian users seek alternatives, with Bluesky emerging as a leading contender.

What is Bluesky?

Bluesky, often shortened to Bsky, is a relatively new decentralised social-blogging platform and public-benefit corporation based in the United States.

The app has seen an unprecedented surge in users following X’s suspension; it gained half a million new users in Brazil within just two days.

While Bluesky and X share some similarities in their basic functionality, they differ significantly in their content moderation and user experience approach.

Bluesky’s decentralised model allows for greater user control over their data and content, contrasting with X’s more centralised structure.

Additionally, Bluesky’s content moderation policies are seen as more transparent and community-driven, a key factor in attracting users disillusioned with X’s practices.

Are users migrating to Bluesky?

Google Trends data shows a sharp increase in searches for “Virtual Private Network” on August 30^th.

However, the ruling also fined individuals and businesses that used virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X. This may explain the surge in searches for “Bluesky” the following day, evidence of Brazilian users’ eagerness to find an alternative to X quickly.

The rapid influx of new users has posed challenges for Bluesky, particularly regarding technical infrastructure. The platform’s servers have experienced unprecedented traffic, leading to occasional slowdowns and connectivity issues.

Despite these challenges, Bluesky’s development team has proactively scaled up their systems to accommodate the growing user base, with reports of 15 times the usual daily peak traffic.

For anyone interested in how it’s going with the Brazil migration to Bluesky, we’re consistently at 15x our normal daily peak traffic

This graph is just kinda crazy, 4 days ago we couldn’t imagine the amount of load we’re seeing on our systems right now

The team is holding it down and doing great

[image or embed]

— Jaz (@jaz.bsky.social) Aug 31, 2024 at 17:36

The future of social media in Brazil

As more users migrate to platforms like Bluesky and Threads, the dominance of traditional social media giants like X and Facebook may be challenged.

This shift could lead to a more diverse and decentralised social media landscape in Brazil, with users enjoying greater freedom and privacy.

While Musk argues that free speech is essential to democracy, Justice Moraes and his supporters contend that freedom of expression must be coupled with a “duty of responsibility”.

The situation in Brazil has attracted global attention, with many wondering whether other countries might follow suit in regulating social media platforms more aggressively.

This comes after the founder of Telegram was arrested in France in relation to various organised crimes carried out within the cloud-based messaging app.