Bluesky is different from X and wants to put social back into networks, says co-founder

Bluesky believes that even if X returns to the country, creating a healthier and safer environment will be its differentiator in keeping users on the platform. “One of the things we are proud of is that Bluesky is run by two women. Why are we proud of that? Because we put safety first,” says the company’s COO (Chief Operating Officer), Rose Wang, in an exclusive interview with the website This Is Money.

“Our hope is that Brazilians understand that we are different and that we are trying to make social media much better for the next generation, much safer, more fun and offering more choices to users,” says Bluesky’s COO. “We are trying to put the social back in social media.”

+Brazil becomes the country with the most Bluesky users after X blocking

Operations in Brazil are out of the question, as the company is currently working entirely remotely. “It’s important for us to have people on the team who represent global users,” she says. She points out, however, that there are some openings for Brazilian software engineers.

Regarding the source of funding for the operation, the company currently operates with venture capital. “We will be like this for a while and we don’t need to worry about revenue,” says Wang. There will be no sales of ads or premium accounts for now. “We want to see where users are finding value and we don’t want to charge money until it really makes sense,” he says.

Bluesky currently has 18 employees, half of whom are co-founders, plus an unspecified moderation team. Its small footprint is inspired by other startups like Instagram and Facebook. “We’ve had 2.6 million users join and the app hasn’t gone offline,” Wang says. “So we don’t need to expand our team.”

Moderation under command of fired by Musk

Wang assures that the moderation team is capable of covering all languages ​​and countries around the world. “It’s important for users to know that we have 24-hour global coverage and respond to reports within 24 hours.”

Any user can report a post for aspects such as unflagged sexual content, antisocial behavior, spam or crimes. The moderation team evaluates and takes action such as adding a label to the post, reducing its reach or even deleting the account. With the increase in Brazilians, the number of profiles being taken down was 2.5 times higher than the platform’s weekly average.

Users can also create labels to assign to posts they consider inappropriate, as well as personalized feeds and profile block lists. Other tools allow users to remove unpleasant posts or mentions from unwanted profiles, so that everyone has control over the conversations on their own account.

According to Wang, 30% of Bluesky users post, compared to an average of 10% on other networks, precisely because of the platform’s security. To prove the credibility of the moderator team, she also mentions the platform’s head of security and trust, Aaron Rodericks. “He has over a decade of experience and has lived through many elections, including several Brazilian elections,” says Wang.

At Twitter under Jack Dorsay, Rodericks headed the election integrity team, responsible for ensuring elections around the world against misuse of the social network. After the platform was purchased by Elon Musk, Rodericks became co-coordinator of the area he previously headed until he was fired in November 2023.

Along with Rodericks, the entire team was fired. The election integrity department ceased to exist. According to the Irish newspaper Business Post, Rodericks sued Musk for defamation amid his dismissal. The case ended with a settlement signed in February 2024. Days later, Rodericks’ hiring by Bluesky was announced.

Bluesky remains without legal representation in Brazil

Accusations of political crimes are at the heart of X’s suspension in Brazil. It was during the process of fake news and the attempted coup d’état on January 8, 2022 that the orders from the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to take down accounts on the platform emerged. But the reason for the suspension of the platform was the lack of legal representation in the country.

However, Bluesky has not yet appointed its legal representative.

“We are working with local entities to have representation soon,” says Wang. “We intend to be fully legally compliant to operate in Brazil.”

She did not say, however, how long it will take for this representative to be defined.

Involvement of Brazilians

Rose Wang says that when the first 10,000 users arrived on Bluesky in mid-2022, there were already Brazilians among them. “I think Taylor Swift fans in Brazil were one of our first communities, then I believe the LGBTQ+ community in Brazil found us. In April [de 2024]another big wave of Brazilians came.”

However, for the country’s internet users to truly benefit from decentralization, the developer community needs to be involved. Wang explains this by comparing it to television. Whereas in the past there were a limited number of channels, with the internet it is possible to consume content created in different formats, on countless platforms. “There are 50,000 feeds to choose from.”

Wang mentions plans to hold events to encourage engineers in the country. “What we want to do is call up all the Brazilian developers and say, ‘Hey, your country is here. Let’s start creating fun games, cool apps for them,’” he says. “This creates a much more democratic experience on social media. You can create a much healthier experience because people have different needs, different countries have different needs.”