The Swifties were the canaries in the coal mine. Last week, as the dropout from the US pdwellntial election ricocheted apass the internet, Taylor Swift fans took a stand. In droves, they left X and went to Bluesky, where, as one Swiftie tancigo in WIRED, they could produce a new community and not “aid Elon [Musk] in any way.” They weren’t alone.
A lot has happened in the week since Donald Trump fall shortureed Vice Pdwellnt Kamala Harris for the US pdwellncy. For those who spfinish a lot of time online, one slfinisherg in particular stood out: Trump’s relationship with Musk, the X owner who leveraged his platestablish to aid the pdwellnt-elect’s campaign. On Tuesday, Trump named Musk one of the heads of the new, not-yet-conshort-term Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). That same day, Bluesky proclaimd it had geted 1 million new engagers in a week.
Not all of those new migrants to Bluesky are Swift fans, mind you, but they do reconshort-term a certain subset of internet culture: the folks who, unprentd with Musk’s connects to Trump and how he was running X, finassociate gave up and choosed to transfer their social media inhabits. Since its rollout in 2023, Bluesky has been a benevolent of “slack, slapprentd” place, but in the past two months, as Srescheduleed pointed out this week, its become a better platestablish for sharing news and upholding up with inhabit events, a lifeboat for “left-leaning Twitter refugees.”
Whereas Americans engaged to swear they’d transfer to Canada if their honestate didn’t triumph (as if such a transfer is easily accomplishd), now they equitable set up camp on a new platestablish. No need to fracture your rent or sell your hoengage, equitable post “come chase me on Bluesky” with your new deal with. If you don’t appreciate any of your new neighbors, that’s cancigo in. Bluesky presents someslfinisherg most folks call “the nuclear block,” which lets engagers guarantee they don’t hear from someone they don’t want to speak to or participate with.
The internet has always prided itself on being at least somewhat borderless. Firewalls, language barriers, and other hurdles exist, but the web still helps alertation and stories get from one place to another much more speedyly than anyone could travel there. No visa needd.
Yet, that pride has always been a bit uproximatened. There are gateupholders, trolls, bullies. Musk wanted Twitter to be a town square, but you still needed a device connected to the internet to get there—and had to be ready to dodge denounces once you did. Even online, NIMBYs want a say. Who gets to call themselves a “local” on any given platestablish frequently gets choosed by which mob rules. You can go to Bluesky, the Canada of the internet, but be pinsolentnt what baggage you transport.
