The Babylon Bee, a conservative satirical outlet, has accused X's rival platform BlueSky of repeatedly censoring its posts and arbitrarily labeling them “intolerant.”
Kyle Mann, editor-in-chief of Babylon Bee, told FOX News Digital that Bluesky's decision to censor content is a “horrifying reminder of what the social media landscape would be like if Elon Musk hadn't bought Twitter.” “It's a great memory,” he said.
The Babylon Bee was suspended from Twitter in 2022 for posting a satirical article calling Admiral Rachel Levine, a transgender woman and a member of the Biden administration's Cabinet, “Man of the Year.”
Twitter warned that the post violated its “hateful conduct” rules and suspended Babylon Bee's account until it deleted the tweet, but the outlet refused. The Babylon Bee account remained suspended by Twitter until it was reinstated after Musk took control.
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SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks at the America PAC Town Hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Now, two years later, Babylon Bee faces a similar dilemma on Bluesky, which was created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and is widely seen as a direct competitor to X.
Bluesky has a similar layout to X, but operates on an “authenticated transfer protocol” that, according to its creators, gives users more control over the content they access than platforms that operate on a single algorithm. can.
Bluesky's website says, “Our online experience doesn't have to depend on billionaires making unilateral decisions about what we see,'' and “With open social networks like Bluesky, , you can shape your own experience.”
The platform has seen significant user growth in recent weeks, with 8 million people, many of them former X users, joining since Election Day. Currently, Bluesky has 22 million users, which is still significantly less than X's user base of over 500 million people.
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This illustrated photo taken on November 12, 2024 shows the logo of social media platform Bluesky displayed on a mobile phone and tablet in Paris. (Ian Langsdon/AFP via Getty Images)
Babylon Bee made its first post on Blue Sky on November 18th. This post posted the same article by Rachel Levine that was suspended in 2022. The post was quickly labeled as “intolerant” and hidden by Blue Sky's moderation service. Users can still see your posts by clicking past the intolerance label.
The creators of the satirical site have now attempted to repost the article four times, with the same result each time.
BlueSky's community guidelines state that the platform does not support “harassment based on gender identity” or “hateful or extremist behavior that targets people or groups on the basis of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation.” Anything that promotes the act is prohibited.
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But Munn said: “It's ironic that the very platform that champions tolerance and freedom from Musk's influence is so intolerant of differing views.”
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He explained that the outlet “thought it was appropriate to debut The B's account on Blue Sky in the article that famously got us banned from Twitter,” and that the result was a result of Musk's He explained that this highlights the need to prioritize freedom of speech.
“Bluesky's censorship policies are eerily reminiscent of what Twitter was like before Elon Musk took office,” he said. “I shudder to think what free speech would be like in America today if Mr. Musk hadn't stood up and freed us from the tyranny of Twitter.”
