X-Alternative Bluesky Might Soon Come Under Fire For Non-Compliance With EU DSA, Here's How
If Bluesky continues to grow so rapidly then it will soon find itself standing in front of EU regulator for non-compliance with the DSA.
Amid the uncertainty over the change in terms of X, thousands of users, including renowned personalities and businesses, migrated from X to Bluesky. Apparently Bluesky offers much more interesting features, which is also one of the reasons why people are following suits. For the users who have done so, we have good and bad news for them. Let's get over with the bad news first. The European Union has said that Bluesky violates the EU Digital Services Act rules around information disclosure.
EU Commission spokesperson, Thomas Regnier, said, “All platforms in the EU . . . have to have a dedicated page on their website where it says how many users they have in the EU and where they are legally established. This is not the case for Bluesky as of today. This is not followed.”
According to reports, Regnier mentioned that the commission has requested the EU's 27 member states to search for "any trace of Bluesky" like EU-based offices. As per The Financial Times, the regulator has not yet directly contacted Bluesky.
Now that the bad news is done with, let's go for the good news. Bluesky or its users don't have to worry about anything right now because the platform is not big enough to be considered a 'very large online platform' under the DSA. Due to this, the EU regulator cannot regulate Bluesky in the same or similar manner as it does with X or Meta-owned Threads.
What Is DSA & How Can It Be Troublesome For Bluesky?
The Digital Services Act (DSA) aims to hold online platforms legally accountable for content shared on their services. However, with fewer than 45 million users, Bluesky currently doesn’t meet the threshold required to be classified as a very large online platform.
Following a surge in signups after the recent US presidential election, Bluesky's user base grew to 15 million just ten days ago and has since reached 22.5 million, according to data from a site maintained by one of the platform's developers. Its rapid expansion could soon bring it into conflict with EU regulators.