A Politico reporter said he received thousands of angry, profane attacks and had his account briefly deleted on the progressive-oriented social media platform Bluesky for sharing a seemingly innocuous post about rival platform X.
Politico's Michael Cross narrated his post on Bluesky a Story from a colleague On whether Democrats should continue to do business with X, formerly known as Twitter, since it was bought by Elon Musk and has become a liberal bogeyman of sorts. He posted a quote with a link to the story from an anonymous Democratic communications staffer who said: “Leaving X because you don't like Elon is the kind of purity politics that got Democrats into this mess to begin with.”
In response, Cross was flooded with thousands of angry responses, which included calling him a “f—ing dork,” “f—ing moron,” “dubf f—” and “b—h,” “Among other colorful phrases. Another user added a graphic description of the place to put a running chainsaw as “the best thing you can do to make the United States a better place.”
Cross shared the anecdote given Bluesky's liberal reputation as a “safe space” from X, which leftists often complain has become a cesspool of hate under Musk. Cross said he had never received so many personal attacks on X, but Bluesky users were angry that he would question why they left Musk's site.
The logo of social media platform Bluesky displayed on a mobile device. (Photo by Ian Langsdon/AFP) (Photo by Ian Langsdon/AFP via Getty Images)
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“On the one hand, it's not a big deal, because it's part of the deal — which is unfortunately common in what passes for online speech. And I receive this abuse much less than people who are not white, or male, or non-Jewish.” Cross wrote.
“on last On the one hand, this was notable, because except for a couple of episodes — and long before Musk took over — I had never on Twitter been on the receiving end of such sustained attack. Plosky says it exists primarily and initially as an alternative for those for whom X.com has become too harmful, yet the vitriol here has mostly been personal attacks.
Cross said he was puzzled by the tone of Bluesky users if the platform was intended to be an oasis from so-called toxicity.
“What exactly is poison? Unpleasant thoughts? Ugly reactions? Maybe the poison is much greater than Bluesky can handle. Social media in general? People in general? Even the idea of having Safe space “As a smart Democrat texted me because this was happening, safe for whom, and from what?”
US President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on November 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Cross said he did not receive an answer from Bluesky about why his account was removed, but it was reinstated shortly after without any further explanation.
Bluesky has picked up millions Of the new accounts since the election, many of them are left-leaning media personalities fed up with X and Musk's support for President-elect Donald Trump.
It has made headlines for its apparent focus on progressive purity, such as the conservative satirical site The Babylon Bee is subject to censorship For sharing an article calling Rachel Levine, a transgender Biden administration official, a “Man of the Year.”
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Fox News Digital I have reached out to Bluesky and Kruse for comment.
