Bluesky tightens safety rules as user numbers ramp up

Bluesky, the decentralised social media platform, has seen a recent surge in new users and is taking steps to improve security and combat impersonation. 

With more people joining the platform, the company is introducing stricter measures to ensure accounts are authentic and trustworthy, as per an official post by the platform.

The Bluesky Safety Team announced on Friday that it has updated its impersonation policy to be "more aggressive". This means accounts that engage in impersonation or handle-squatting—where users claim handles to deceive others—will be removed.

To act on reports faster, Bluesky has also quadrupled the size of its moderation team. However, the platform is still working through a backlog of reports due to the recent influx of users, says the official post.

Bluesky is also addressing confusion caused by parody, satire, and fan accounts. These accounts are allowed, but they must clearly label themselves as unofficial in both their display name and bio. Accounts that fail to do so will be flagged as impersonation.

The company is cracking down on "identity churning" as well, a method in which users create fake accounts to gain followers and later change the account's identity. Such behaviour will lead to account removal, says the official post.

Bluesky currently uses verified domains in user handles to signal authenticity. For example, official Bluesky-affiliated accounts include the "bsky.team" domain. However, many users have called for more ways to verify their identity, similar to the blue check badges popularised by X (formerly Twitter). Bluesky says they are working on a new way to address this issue.

The company is also helping high-profile users and organisations set up verified domain handles to make it easier for users to identify authentic accounts. For example, journalists and news organisations can self-verify their accounts by adding their website name in their username, e.g. @nytimes.com, @washingtonpost.com, etc.

The new updates come as many users leave X and join Bluesky. After Elon Musk took over, X replaced its old verification system with a paid subscription, leading to criticism and confusion about authenticity on the platform. Bluesky, with its decentralised structure and focus on user control, has become an attractive alternative for many netizens.