Bluesky's UK user numbers are soaring, Elon Musk's controversial comments could be to blame

Following the murder of a young girl in the UK, rumors that the suspect was an immigrant were spread, sparking anti-immigration demonstrations across the UK. After Musk's controversial comments on the case, it was discovered that British users were gathering on the social networking site Bluesky.

Welcome to all of our new users, and a special welcome to the UK, which had the most Bluesky signups of any country for 5 out of the last 7 days!

What makes Bluesky different? Some key features: 🧵

— Bluesky (

@bsky.app ) Aug 14, 2024 at 2:58

Bluesky signups surge in UK amid Musk's feud with government over riots | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/bluesky-signups-surge-uk-amid-musks-row-with-government-over-riots-2024-08-13/

Bluesky's UK surge has had little impact on X | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/15/blueskys-uk-surge-has-had-little-impact-on-x/?guccounter=1

On July 29, 2024, three girls were killed and eight children and two adults were seriously injured at a dance studio in the UK. A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and other crimes, but rumors that the boy was a Muslim immigrant were spread on the internet, leading to anti-immigration demonstrations across the UK.

In response to this series of events, Elon Musk, owner of the social networking site 'X' (formerly Twitter), made statements that inflamed public sentiment, such as 'civil war is inevitable,' which drew the ire of the British government.

Elon Musk posts on British riots: 'Civil war is inevitable' - GIGAZINE

Subsequent investigations revealed a sharp increase in Bluesky's UK users. While it is unclear whether Musk's comments were a direct factor, the number of active UK users increased by 60% in the week before and after the comments. Bluesky said, 'We are seeing signs that people are beginning to look for alternatives to X as a result of Elon Musk's controversial comments.'

Below is a graph of the number of users in each country as announced by Bluesky. The only blue line that stands out is the UK.

Oh hello Britain 😳

That blue line is activity in the UK spiking past all of the other countries on Bluesky right now.

Welcome, and invite a friend to join us! bsky.app/download

[image or embed]

— Bluesky ( @bsky.app ) Aug 15, 2024 at 5:48

According to an analysis by digital research firm Similarweb, Bluesky had 67,800 daily active users in the UK, a figure that was a recent peak but not an all-time high. For example, in January 2024, the number of daily active users exceeded 100,000.

The impact of Bluesky's user growth on X is also seen as small, with X's active user numbers falling to their lowest level in 2024 after Musk's comments, but the company still reportedly had 6 million daily active users in the UK.

Globally, even if we focus only on Android devices, X has 91 million daily active users as of August 12, 2024, far ahead of Threads' 34.9 million and Bluesky's 594,700.

In response to this series of incidents, the British government has announced that it will consider asking social media platforms to remove 'lawful but harmful' content.

British government considers forcing social media companies to remove 'lawful but harmful' content in response to online hoaxes - GIGAZINE