Bluesky, X’s competitor, obtains 1.25 million subscribers after the US election

Bluesky, a microblogging company, has added over 1.25 million new members in the last week, showing that some social media users are adjusting their behaviors in response to the U.S. presidential election.

Bluesky’s user growth demonstrates that the app has successfully positioned itself as an alternative to X, previously Twitter, which is owned by Elon Musk, as well as Meta’s Threads. The majority of new users are from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, the business announced Wednesday.

Despite the increase in users, Bluesky’s total base remains a fraction of its competitors’. The Seattle startup claims to have 15.2 million total users. In October, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Threads had approximately 275 million monthly users. Musk stated in May that X had 600 million monthly users, whereas Sensor Tower estimated 318 million users in October.

Some new Bluesky members said they switched to the service because of Musk’s support for President-elect Donald Trump.