The decentralized social media network Bluesky signed up thousands of users after X owner Elon Musk said he is moving toward requiring all users to pay a monthly fee.
Bluesky had its biggest signup day on Tuesday. The social network had more than 53,000 users on Tuesday, according to the site Bluesky Stats, which tracks signups and popular users. Bluesky currently has 1.14 million users.
Bluesky is an invite-only platform, meaning potential users need to have an invite code from someone already on the platform to sign up.
Typically, Bluesky gains 10,000 to 20,000 new users a day. Tuesday’s figures suggest that something unique drove users to the site.
Earlier this week, Mr. Musk met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss artificial intelligence. During the discussion, Mr. Musk said X would soon move to a “small monthly payment” model, meaning every user would have to pay.
X currently requires only those subscribed to X Premium to pay a monthly fee.
Social media companies, like Bluesky and Meta’s Threads, have slowly been drawing in new daily users. It remains to be seen if any platform can overtake X in daily active users.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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