After X, Bluesky now trolls Threads

Bluesky is back at it again, and this time, it’s not just Elon Musk in the crosshairs. Fresh off a clever jab at Musk and his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky has turned its sights on Meta’s Threads, adding some flair to what can only be described as a social media showdown.

Bluesky’s trolling game started when it joined Threads, Meta’s X-like platform, just as frustration among Threads users was hitting a fever pitch. Complaints about Meta’s moderation policies and surge in engagement bait had users in a frenzy. Naturally, Bluesky seized the opportunity.

In its debut post on Threads on Wednesday, Bluesky made an almost innocent entrance. “👋 heard people were talking about us… so we created an account to share some more information!” This seemingly polite debut wasn’t just a friendly hello — it was a Trojan horse filled with sass. With the confidence of someone who knows they’ve got nothing to lose, Bluesky casually dropped a second post the following day, “We’re not like the other girls… we’re not owned by a billionaire.” Ouch. The subtle yet sharp dig at Meta’s billionaire overlord, Mark Zuckerberg, was only the start of a campaign to lure disillusioned Threads users to its decentralized shores.

Bluesky wasted no time reminding everyone of its freedom-first philosophy. Unlike Meta, which is often criticized for heavy-handed moderation, Bluesky lets users curate their own social media experience. “You actually get to customize your social experience — you’re in control,” Bluesky boasts. It’s like the “choose-your-own-adventure” of social networks, where you decide what content to see, rather than having it fed to you by some mysterious, all-powerful algorithm. As Bluesky’s post cheerily put it, “Your social experience should be yours to customize, not bent to the whims of whoever the owner of the platform is.” This clearly wasn’t just a swipe at Threads but a dig at the entire ecosystem of corporate-run social media platforms.

Post by @bluesky_social

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The trolling seems to be paying off. Accoridng to Engadget, Bluesky has been trending on Threads for two days in a row, sparking a flood of comparisons between its laissez-faire moderation style and Meta’s more iron-fisted approach. Threads users, who’ve been grumbling about “engagement bait” and seemingly random content bans (like for using words as benign as “cracker” or “saltines”), were all too eager to consider alternatives. Meta’s Adam Mosseri has acknowledged the moderation issues but hasn’t quite managed to cool the growing discontent.

This latest antic comes hot on the heels of Bluesky’s recent shot at X. Last week, Bluesky mocked Elon Musk’s flip-flopping on political neutrality, posting a biting “how it started vs. how it’s going” meme. Musk had famously promised to keep Twitter politically neutral, but Bluesky was quick to point out how that promise evaporated as soon as Musk started openly backing Donald Trump. With a sly wink, Bluesky added, “A truly neutral platform has to be on an open protocol… find that here,” luring frustrated X users with promises of less drama and more independence.

It’s no surprise, then, that Bluesky is riding high. Having doubled its user base to 10.8 million in just the last month — thanks in part to the brief shutdown of X in Brazil — Bluesky is gaining steam by offering something the corporate giants can’t: a platform that’s not beholden to the whims of billionaires and their questionable decisions.

For now, Threads’ growing pains are Bluesky’s gain. Whether this wave of trolling will result in a full-scale migration to Bluesky remains to be seen. But its clear Bluesky has mastered the art of snarky social media, and both Meta and X should be keeping an eye on this feisty newcomer.

After all, sometimes it’s not always the biggest guy in the room that wins — it’s the one with the best comebacks.

Featured image: Julio Lopez / Unsplash