Bluesky now allows heads of states to sign up for the social network

Social networking service Bluesky is now allowing heads of state to sign up and join the platform. The move comes ahead of major general elections in countries like the U.S. and India this year.

Last year, during Bluesky’s invite-only period, the company had stated that it didn’t allow heads of state to sign up, and asked users to contact the startup before inviting prominent figures.

“We appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm in sending invitations, but our current policy is that we cannot accommodate heads of state to join us in our beta yet. This applies to recent/prominent heads of state as well,” the company had said at that time.

In February, the company opened up the platform for everyone after staying in invite-only mode for almost a year.

Bluesky faced moderation challenges early in its life, and has had to face issues like preventing users from using racial slurs in their handles. Separately, its users have continuously pushed the platform to clamp down on hate speech.

The platform has since taken steps to improve its moderation, adding moderation lists and automated moderation tools in December 2023. Last month, it announced Ozone, a tool that allows users to build their own moderation and labeling services.

Bluesky’s rival Threads has distanced itself from actively recommending political content. However, Bluesky users don’t have to rely on a central algorithm to see content, as they can subscribe to different feeds.