European Commission: Bluesky not complying with EU laws
The rapidly growing social media platform Bluesky is violating EU regulations by failing to disclose important details, a European Commission spokesperson told reporters on Monday. A number of mandatory legal notices are missing from its website.
Bluesky experienced a major growth in recent weeks and has about 22 million active users. There were several days last week when the user base grew by 1 million in 24 hours. According to a Commission spokesperson, however, Bluesky is not complying with European legislation.
“All platforms in the EU, even the smallest ones, have to have a dedicated page on their website where it says how many user numbers they have in the EU and where they are legally established,” the spokesperson said. “This is not the case for Bluesky as of today.”
Bluesky's privacy page does not provide any company information, De Morgen reports. The privacy statement mentions an email address, but that is not sufficient for the Commission.
Alternative to X
The spokesperson also said that, as Bluesky is not classified as a Very Large Platform under the EU's Digital Services Act, the Commission has not yet contacted the company about the issue. Instead, it has contacted the EU’s 27 national governments to check "if they can find any trace of Bluesky”. News agency Reuters asked Bluesky for a comment, but the company has not yet responded to questions.
Bluesky began in 2019 as a research project at Twitter, when the platform was still led by Jack Dorsey, and became an independent company in 2021.
Since the US presidential election, Bluesky has been gaining popularity. Internet users are looking for an alternative to X, which has been owned by billionaire Elon Musk since late 2022. The businessman backed Donald Trump during the election and gave financial support to his campaign.
© PHOTO DAVIDE BONALDO / SIPA USA
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