We are witnessing live how Bluesky It becomes one of the social networks of the moment. The platform of only 20 full-time employees is growing at a frenetic pace amid an apparent exodus of users from with the legislation of the places where it operates.
If we focus exclusively on the European Union, all platforms are required to publish twice a year the regional number of users they have. We are facing a guideline that emerges from the Digital Services Act (DSA) and that platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X have been complying with. Bluesky, however, has not yet taken this step, something that could cause problems in the EU.
Bluesky and the Digital Services Law
In the last year we have talked a lot about DSA. Throughout our articles we have seen that very large online platforms (VLOPs) are subject to specific obligations. Bluesky, with its current 20 million of users, is below the threshold of 45 million that is necessary to be considered a VLOP, but certain DSA requirements apply to all platforms.
As we can see in the final text of the DSA, article 24 of the law establishes that providers must have a publicly accessible section in their interface with information on the monthly average of active users in the EU. It must be calculated as an average during the period of the last six months and following a specific methodology. Bluesky has only published its number of global users.
EU spokesman Thomas Regnier told the Financial Times that “All EU platforms (…) have to have a dedicated page on their website saying how many users they have in the EU and where they are legally established,” adding that not only is Bluesky not complying with this, but they have failed to identify a company representative within the EU to contact with the.
In this sense, the European Commission has asked its 27 members to look for “some trace of Bluesky” such as an office of the social network. It should be noted that the authorities have not mentioned any sanctions, nor have they issued a formal warning. For now, they have limited themselves to saying that they want to monitor the evolution of Bluesky to eventually designate it (or not) as a VLOP when necessary.
Images | Guillaume Perigois
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