Bluesky, the social media platform, has reported a notable increase in user signups in the United Kingdom recently, suggesting that Elon Musk’s contentious remarks about the nationwide riots have driven people to seek alternatives to X.
The platform has experienced a 60% rise in activity from UK accounts, with several Members of Parliament joining as well, according to a company statement issued on Monday.
Musk has faced criticism for inflaming tensions following far-right riots in Britain, which were sparked by online misinformation regarding the murder of three girls in northern England last month. His posts, including one predicting an “inevitable” civil war in Britain, have drawn condemnation from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and fueled calls for more stringent online content regulations.
Bluesky reported that the UK has led in new signups for five out of the past seven days. As a relatively new entrant in the social media landscape, Bluesky has seen this surge in interest.
Musk, who was born in South Africa and became a U.S. citizen in 2002, has shifted towards right-wing politics in recent years and has publicly supported Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential campaign.
Bluesky is among several platforms attempting to fill the void left by Twitter following Musk’s tumultuous acquisition of the company in late 2022. In July, Bluesky’s monthly active user count was around 688,568, a small fraction compared to X’s 76.9 million users, according to Similarweb.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, did not provide updates on user growth for its Twitter competitor, Threads, in the UK. Mastodon, another smaller rival to X, also did not respond to requests for information on its user growth.
