Whenever I see Bluesky gathering attention on X it's usually because they've ganged up against another conservative and done their best to drive them off the platform. But the really fun stuff happens when the woke liberals at Bluesky turn on other woke liberals at Bluesky and create a circular firing squad. And that's what has been happening there lately.
Yesterday, it dawned on one outspoken liberal, David Roberts, that maybe the whole concept of Bluesky wasn't working out so well for the left.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Bluesky has been a net negative for US politics. They corralled everyone on the left into a little glass fishbowl where they shout at one another & everyone else ignores them. Meanwhile, all the pols & institutions stayed on X & are being dragged farther right.
— David Roberts (@volts.wtf) May 12, 2026 at 10:39 AM
Can you guess what happened next? The Free Beacon describes the reaction.
Bluesky users were shocked that such a revered member of the annoying left-wing pundit class would criticize their place of worship. Doing what comes naturally, they responded by shouting at Roberts while everyone else ignored them. He was forced to write a 10-post follow-up explaining that his criticism should not be considered an endorsement of X, the far more popular, immigrant-owned Bluesky competitor, which he described as a "toxic" "Nazi" haven that is turning mainstream journalists into right-wing activists.
Fortunately, Benjamin Ryan dragged some of those posts onto X so you can see them.
Progressive journalist Marisa Kabas says it’s not right to blame Bluesky. It’s all X’s fault. pic.twitter.com/rYswGYOzhO
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) May 12, 2026
Naturally, it wasn't long before someone brought race into it. David Roberts is white so of course that's a problem.
Of the hundreds of angry and indignant responses to David Roberts’ critique of Bluesky, this is my favorite: “It’s the straightest, most entitled white boy take on Bluesky. Like wtf, Civil Rights and Marriage equality didn’t happen on some sort of national social conversation.… pic.twitter.com/DvZWMmMo6D
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) May 13, 2026
Is Bluesky a leftist bubble? This guy from Media Matters says no.
Andrew Lawrence, deputy director for rapid response at the progressive-activist media watch dog organization Media Matters, insists that, in fact, Bluesky’s politics are aligned with the national average. It “feels silly to argue otherwise,” he says in response to the suggestion… pic.twitter.com/EZfQCL1PIS
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) May 13, 2026
But not everyone rejected what Roberts was saying. Will Stancil, another well known liberal on Bluesky, agreed with his premise.
Will Stancil, who has become a favorite punching bag by Blueskyites for failing various ideological purity tests, addresses the site’s denialism about the impacts of ideological sequestration: https://t.co/IK5oNzGj9P pic.twitter.com/vT74Rm4RBF
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) May 13, 2026
This one had to sting.
Will Stancil says Bluesky is “Truth Social for libs.” pic.twitter.com/YapxwJWNtM
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) May 13, 2026
In any case, Roberts thinks Bluesky is dying.
David Roberts expresses his powerlessness to stop the death spiral facing Bluesky. pic.twitter.com/4unL7bhjPM
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) May 13, 2026
Officially, Bluesky has something like 44 million users. The problem is that most of them aren't active users. The number of daily users is closer to 2-3 million. That's not bad but it's nowhere close to X which has something like 240-250 million daily users.
All that to say, for once I agree with David Roberts. Bluesky is a little fishbowl where the rest of us can watch liberal yell at each other. And that's probably all it's good for at this point.
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