--- title: "Change to Twitter Suggests Elon Musk Is Panicking Over Users Leaving for Bluesky" description: "X owner Elon Musk appears to be spooked by the flow of users leaving the social media platform in favor of alternatives like BlueSky." date: "2024-11-27" modified: "2024-11-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/change-twitter-elon-musk-panicking-bluesky" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "buesky" - "elon musk" - "mark zuckerberg" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Change to Twitter Suggests Elon Musk Is Panicking Over Users Leaving for Bluesky ![X owner Elon Musk appears to be spooked by the flow of users leaving the social media platform in favor of alternatives like BlueSky.]() *\Image: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images\* ## Nothing to See X owner Elon Musk appears to be spooked by the [continuous flow of users]() leaving the social media platform in favor of alternatives like BlueSky and Meta's Threads. In a surprising move last week, Musk announced that the platform would start allowing users to hide likes, shares, and reposts — a suspicious decision that feels like a bid to conceal the platform's waning energy. "You can now hide engagement buttons and numbers below each post and interact with posts through custom swipe gestures!" X app developer May Ly [tweeted]() last week. Musk himself resorted to an odd excuse for the new feature. "It's much cleaner with engagement numbers turned off," he [wrote](). "You can still see view count if you care." ## Grass Greener Why Musk would suddenly care about a "cleaner" user interface is a bit of a mystery. Ever since taking over the social media platform in 2022, the company has littered the network with a confusing array of colored checkmarks, unnecessary info, and a barrage of disruptive ads. But it doesn't take much reading between the lines to wonder if X is paying attention to the astronomic rise of Twitter alternatives BlueSky and Threads. Over the past week alone, BlueSky's daily active users have [soared to 3.5 million](), a massive 300 percent increase since Election Day, according to Similarweb. As of earlier this month, Threads had a whopping 275 million monthly active users. But thanks to its breakneck momentum, Bluesky is [starting to close the gap]() where it matters. Even Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is [anxiously paying attention](), with many former Twitter power users choosing Bluesky instead of Threads in the wake of the election. Meanwhile, Musk's X has implemented a number of user-hostile policy changes, from [requiring users to opt out]() of having their posts be used to train the platform's AI chatbot to [dismantling the block function](), thereby opening the floodgates for even more harassment. [Hate speech]() and [even child sexual abuse material]() have run rampant on X ever since Musk took over, turning the platform into a hellhole of disinformation and exploitation. Last week, Musk also [appeared to confirm]() that X was actively throttling the visibility of posts that include external links, a sign that the platform could be looking for ways to shut out outside news. In short, who could blame users for running away? **More on Bluesky:** *[Zuckerberg Seems Genuinely Alarmed by the Explosive Growth of Bluesky]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()