Bluesky has turned into a refuge for millions of people flocking from Elon Musk's X platform, formerly known as Twitter. However, there are a few issues that have come to light in recent days that show that even Bluesky needs to learn from established players like Meta to avoid regulatory issues.
In the most recent regulatory misstep, Reuters reported that Bluesky was violating EU regulations by failing to disclose the number of EU users on the website. In a statement, a European Commission spokesperson said:
"All platforms in the EU even the smallest ones which are below the threshold, which is the case for Bluesky, have to have a dedicated page on their website where it says how many user numbers they have in the EU and where they are legally established. This is not the case for Bluesky as of today."
The Commission has not yet reached out to Bluesky about the issue. Instead, it has contacted the governments of its 27 member states to check if they can find any trace of Bluesky. According to Wikipedia, Bluesky is operated by Bluesky Social, which is an American benefit corporation.
Aside from not meeting the EU's stringent rules, Bluesky's head, Jay Graber, recently told BBC Radio 5 Live that users needed to be 18 to use the service. This is, in fact, false - the actual minimum age limit to use Bluesky is 13.
It's unclear whether Graber made a gaffe or was intentionally misleading, as the UK is currently looking at banning social media for under-16s. However, it does make the platform look quite amateurish when its chief executive doesn't even know something as basic as the age requirements for joining.
Hopefully, Bluesky will figure out how to professionalize its operations so that it can meet regulatory demands, which are beginning to get much stricter compared to the 2010s when Meta's platforms were maturing.
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