X rivals Bluesky, Threads see influx of users after Trump election
Left-leaning social media users have reportedly flocked to upstarts Bluesky and Threads — two rival apps to X, the site owned by Donald Trump-backing billionaire Elon Musk — after the former president’s victory last week.
Bluesky, the decentralized platform which was founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, added 700,000 users since last Tuesday, growing its total account base to 14.5 million, according to Bloomberg News.
Threads, the “Twitter killer” app rolled out by Facebook parent company Meta last year, did not reveal how many users have joined the platform since Trump easily defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
But as of Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg’s site was the top rated “free” app on Apple’s App Store. Bluesky was seventh on the list of free apps — ahead of Instagram, Facebook and X.
Threads now boasts more than 275 million monthly users — up from 150 million in April.
While Bluesky and Threads have added users, they are both significantly behind X, which has 318 million monthly users, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
The Post has sought comment from Bluesky and Threads’ parent company Meta.
Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and then rebranded the site as X, endorsed Trump and actively promoted his candidacy during the campaign.
The mogul appeared at several Trump rallies and is reportedly set to wield considerable influence during his second term in office.
Under Musk’s ownership, X has also undone previous management’s content moderation and censorship policies that banned Trump and other right-leaning commentators such as the satirical news site Babylon Bee.
