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Social media platform Bluesky has experienced a significant increase in signups from the United Kingdom in recent days, suggesting that Elon Musk's controversial remarks regarding the nationwide riots have prompted people to seek alternatives to X.
Bluesky has reported a 60% surge in overall activity from UK-based accounts, with several Members of Parliament also joining the platform recently.
Musk has been accused of worsening tensions after days of far-right rioting in Britain caused by online misinformation around the murder of three girls in northern England last month.
The Tesla CEO used his platform to share misleading information with his millions of followers, including one post suggesting civil war was "inevitable" in Britain, prompting a reaction from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and sparking calls for the government to implement laws regulating online content sooner.
"Bluesky, a newer player in the social media space, reported that the UK had the most signups on its platform for 5 out of the last 7 days.
The South Africa-born billionaire, who became a U.S. citizen in 2022, has shifted towards right-wing politics and publicly endorsed Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential race.
Bluesky is one of many apps aiming to replace Twitter after Elon Musk's chaotic takeover in late 2022.
In July, Bluesky had around 688,568 monthly active users, a fraction of X's (Twitter's) 76.9 million.
Meta did not provide an update on user growth for its Twitter rival, Threads, in the UK, and Mastodon, another smaller X competitor, did not respond to requests for user growth details."
