'The vitriol here was overwhelmingly ad hominem attacks,' Politico writer said of X competitor Bluesky
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A Politico reporter said he received thousands of angry, profane attacks and had his account briefly taken down on the progressive-leaning social media platform Bluesky for sharing a seemingly innocuous post about rival platform X.
Politico's Michael Kruse recounted sharing on Bluesky a story from a colleague about whether Democrats should continue to engage on X, formerly known as Twitter, since it was bought by Elon Musk and has become a liberal bogeyman of sorts. He posted a quote with the story link from an anonymous Democratic communications staffer that said, "Leaving X because you don’t like Elon is the kind of purity politics that landed Democrats in this mess to begin with."
In response, Kruse was flooded with thousands of angry responses, which included calling him a "f---ing dork," "f---ing moron," "dumb f---" and "b---h," among other colorful phrases. Another user added a graphic description of where to put a running chainsaw as "the best thing you could possibly do to make the United States a better place."
Kruse shared the anecdote due to Bluesky's liberal reputation as a "safe space" from X, which left-wingers often complain has become a hateful cesspool under Musk. Kruse said he had never received such an avalanche of personal attacks on X, but Bluesky users were infuriated that he would question why they left Musk's site behind.
The logo of social media platform Bluesky displayed on a mobile device. (Photo by Ian LANGSDON / AFP) (Photo by IAN LANGSDON/AFP via Getty Images)
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"On the one hand, it’s not a big deal, because it’s part of the deal — regrettably commonplace in what passes for internet discourse. And I get far less of this abuse than people who are not white, male and gentile," Kruse wrote.
"On the other hand, this was notable, because with the exception of a couple episodes — and long before Musk took over — I have on Twitter never been on the receiving end of such a sustained assault. Bluesky says it basically and principally exists as an alternative for those for whom X.com had gotten too noxious, and yet the vitriol here was overwhelmingly ad hominem attacks."
Kruse said he was puzzled by Bluesky users' tone if the point was for the platform to be an oasis from so-called toxicity.
"The toxin is what exactly? Unpleasant ideas? Ugly reactions? Maybe the toxin is far bigger than Bluesky could possibly address. Social media overall? People writ large? Even the notion of a safe space — as a smart Democrat texted me as this was going on, safe for whom, and from what?'" he wrote.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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Kruse said he didn't get an answer from Bluesky about why his account was taken down, but it was reinstated shortly after without any further explanation.
Bluesky has picked up millions of new accounts since the election, many of them left-leaning media figures fed up with X and Musk's support of President-elect Donald Trump.
It's generated headlines for its seeming focus on progressive purity, such as conservative satire site The Babylon Bee being censored for sharing an article calling transgender Biden administration official Rachel Levine a "man of the year."
Fox News Digital reached out to Bluesky and Kruse for comment.
