X-odus from Musk’s platform to Bluesky – a turning point?

After Donald Trump's victory in the last US presidential election and Elon Musk being part of his core team, there has been a mass exodus of users from the X platform. Hundreds of thousands of users decided to abandon their account while others simply deleted it.

One of the most popular alternatives to X that people are turning to is Bluesky. In the past few weeks, Bluesky experienced a spectacular boom, recently reaching a total of more than 20 million users, compared to only 9 million in September. “I think it’s an acceleration of a development that we have seen since Musk took over Twitter and renamed it,” analysed Johan Farkas, an assistant professor in Media Studies at the University of Copenhagen. X already experienced a 30% drop in usage from 2023 to 2024, according to a study from Edison Research. 

The criticisms against X have never stopped since Musk bought Twitter in 2022. The platform is often accused of encouraging disinformation and hate speech. Users also denounced the re-platforming of users previously banned for hate speech and harassment, the boost of the Musk feed, spam porn accounts, or the introduction of pay-to-play features. But this time, with the Musk role in the election of Trump, it became too much for many users. 

As a matter of pride, new Bluesky users post their X account deactivation screenshots. Farkas compares this with American cable television, which has become very polarised, mainly between right-wing Fox News and left-wing CNN. Depending on what cable you’re watching, it is supposed to say something about your political orientation. 

“If you said yes, I’m verified on X, it means something about your political views and ultimately that you paid to Musk. And on the opposite, if people say I’m very active on Bluesky, it also means something else,” said Johan Farkas.

Staying on X, whatever the cost, or leaving the platform? The question is not easy. Many journalists and media outlets have recently announced quitting X, such as the British newspaper The Guardian, the French daily Ouest-France, or the Spanish newspaper Lavanguardia. 

But isn't there perhaps a risk for the media of depriving themselves of a certain audience, present on X? If some have left the platform since Trump's election, others, the fervent supporters, could on the contrary be encouraged to join it.

Farkas gave the example of the Danish public broadcaster who decided to leave X (earlier this year, before the current exodus) to show that it is not an easy choice. “On one hand, the public broadcaster needs to be where people are, but at the same time they use tax money to allocate some resources to deal on these platforms, mainly with the comment sections. So it’s a hard dilemma.”

However, this time, the risk is great with Trump, who never ceases to qualify the media as “fake news,” and Musk, who does not attach much importance to news. “Imagine if The Guardian spends a lot of money on X and hires people to build good content on it. Then, Trump says The Guardian is fake news, and Musk said we will close it. It can become very political as Musk is part of the [presidential] administration,” said Farkas. 

Amid debates over free speech, soon-to-be vice president JD Vance already warned against EU attempts to regulate Elon Musk's platform, suggesting that the US could pull its support from NATO. “This situation also highlights the vulnerability of the media, who are really in the hands of the company, and what they decided to do with the algorithm. Musk could one day say now we don't want news anymore in the feed, for example,” said Farkas. 

Beyond the media and journalists, the wave of exodus is expanding, from brands to educational or even scientists. Mike Young, a social media consultant for scientists in Denmark, observed the same trend. With his colleague Lasse Hjorth Madsen, they did an analysis to compile data about the science communities in Bluesky. Just before the Trump election, they found almost 40,000 influential scientists, compared to 20,000 earlier this year. This figure likely would be even higher since recent political developments.

“Some scientists who used to use X as a science communication tool and continually update people about their work are so mad about the owner of X and the disinformation that they basically stop posting on X. This worries me a lot, because some part of the public may lose access to this information,” said Young. 

However, the transition is not always easy. “For people who have a lot of followers on X and used to use it a lot, it will be difficult for them to switch to another platform. They built this with years, and when they started on Bluesky, they started from scratch. For them, it's a tragedy.”

Bluesky already has waves of new users, but rarely with such strong enthusiasm. The platform creates a lot of nostalgia among users who feel like they are reliving the beginnings of Twitter. Every time Musk does something that divides or causes controversy, the platform records an increase in attendance and new users. But in the long term, can it last and be a viable replacement of X?

“It’s very impressive to see how Bluesky has grown since the elections. It's competitive to X, but of course it’s very small. For now, they are not making money, it's always easier when you offer a product, and do you need to make money. But when it will launch ads or start to be profitable, would they be able to do so without hurting the user experience?” wondered Johan Farkas.

In response to an article suggesting that Threads could run ads next year, Bluesky said it does not plan to run ads any time soon. With the development of Threads and Mastodon, we can also wonder if all these platforms can coexist in the long term? “It’s hard to say and hard to make money for all this platform, but at the same time advertisers also like to share and reach specific demographics,” said Farkas. 

Trump's return to the White House in 2025 and cohabitation with Musk could be decisive for the future of the X platform and other alternatives.