Bluesky, Mastodon Gear Up As Alternatives to X As US Election Begins

As the U.S. presidential election draws closer, Bluesky, a social networking startup backed by recent investments, is readying itself to position as a fact-checked, trusted alternative to Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter).

With mounting frustration among X users over Musk’s changes to the platform, Bluesky, along with its peers Meta’s Threads and Mastodon, is hoping to capitalize on a possible user shift. Musk’s platform, recently dominated by his visible support for the Trump campaign and alterations that relaxed content moderation, has alienated some users, and Bluesky’s leadership believes it could be the moment to attract them.

For Bluesky, the upcoming election season is seen as a defining test for its ability to manage misinformation and foster a safer, reliable online environment—one that includes a blend of traditional moderation and new approaches to social networking.

The platform, which emerged from the controversy surrounding Musk’s 2023 acquisition of Twitter, has quickly developed a user base that leans left due to a sizable influx of former Twitter users uncomfortable with Musk’s approach to political content and looser moderation. With Threads opting to distance itself from political conversations altogether by ceasing to recommend any political content, Bluesky has embraced an environment for more engaged, real-time election discussions.

This strategic choice has helped set Bluesky apart as an option for users looking for political discourse moderated with election integrity in mind. As X recently abolished its block function, another Musk move that has generated frustration among users, Bluesky, and its competitors are poised to potentially gain new members from those reconsidering their social media choices.

In a critical move earlier this year, Bluesky appointed Aaron Rodericks, a former senior leader in Twitter’s election integrity team, as its head of Trust and Safety. With experience managing election safety policies at Twitter, Rodericks brings knowledge of the tools, policies, and monitoring strategies essential to moderating election-related content.

Rodericks became a notable figure in the debate over election safety at Twitter when, during Musk’s overhaul, he faced backlash from right-wing groups for openly seeking more staff for election oversight. Following the backlash and Musk’s decision to cut Twitter’s election integrity team, Roderick found a home at Bluesky, where he has been tasked with building a team to help secure Bluesky’s environment during the election period.

Consequently, Bluesky’s Trust and Safety team, led by Roderick, recently unveiled its robust election safety plan in a series of posts on the platform. These plans detail procedures for users to report potential misinformation or disruptive election-related content. Content deemed to include misleading claims around voting processes, requirements for voter ID, or other critical election facts will be flagged for review, with an escalation process for urgent reports.

Additionally, Bluesky’s moderation team plans to implement “unconfirmed” labels on emerging election-related reports that can’t immediately be verified, such as claims about polling place conditions or incidents. Bluesky has also stated it will remove any posts that seem to promote or encourage disruption of voting processes, ensuring a higher level of security for users during this volatile period.

The platform’s decentralized framework is one of its most distinct features compared to other social media platforms. Users are able to join multiple moderation servers, each governed by its own rules, allowing individuals to tailor their feeds and interactions to their preferences. This flexibility in content control aligns with Bluesky’s message that it provides an alternative to “billionaire-driven” content moderation, which some users feel has taken over X.

Bluesky’s leadership has emphasized that anyone who disagrees with how Bluesky’s primary server is run can create their own or subscribe to a different moderation service. CEO Jay Graber highlighted the advantage of this model in a podcast interview, explaining that Bluesky’s structure encourages a participatory approach, empowering users to shape their social media experience beyond what is possible on centralized platforms like X.

In tandem with its moderation strategy, it has expanded its team to prepare for the anticipated increase in election-related traffic. While the company hasn’t disclosed exact figures, Graber has indicated that Bluesky’s staff now includes about 18 members dedicated to engineering, operations, and content moderation—a scale-up necessary to ensure timely and effective management of the surge in activity as election day nears.

Bluesky’s competitors in the alternative social media space are also preparing to position themselves as trusted alternatives to X, which has been the subject of increased criticism over its loosened moderation and political tilt under Musk’s leadership.

Meta’s Threads has taken a different approach by actively avoiding political discussions on its platform. Earlier this year, Threads announced it would no longer recommend political content to users, a decision likely aimed at minimizing divisive discourse. By sidestepping political content, Threads hopes to build a less contentious space, though this decision has also resulted in limited engagement from users seeking real-time updates on election-related news and topics.

Meanwhile, Mastodon, another open-source and decentralized alternative to X, has also been rolling out new features to improve its user experience and potentially attract users disillusioned with X. Its recent updates include notification grouping, a tool for organizing engagement alerts in a more streamlined way similar to X’s layout.

Mastodon is also launching new filters for managing notifications from unsolicited private mentions, recently created accounts, and users who are not following or followed by the user. Additionally, Mastodon’s expanded moderation tools allow users to receive notifications if a moderator’s decision affects their account’s visibility or connections across servers. These improvements aim to give users more control and transparency over their experience, which Mastodon hopes will appeal to users frustrated with the one-size-fits-all approach of X’s moderation.

With each of these platforms bringing unique features to the table, the upcoming election season could be the moment when X’s competitors gain traction by offering more nuanced and reliable content moderation solutions. In the past, Musk’s hands-off approach and mass layoffs of moderation staff have led to concerns about X’s capability to handle sensitive election information responsibly. Many observers see the choices Musk has made, from altering verification processes to eliminating the block feature, as pivotal to the general disillusionment driving users toward alternatives like Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon.