Bluesky posters are parody, not official ad campaign
- Published on December 20, 2024 at 20:22
- 6 min read
- By Daniel GALGANO, AFP USA
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"No Incels," says the advertisement shared in a December 7 Bluesky post, a reference to the involuntary celibate online subculture.
Another December 7 Bluesky post shares an image of a display that reads: "No Trolls."
The same images spread elsewhere on Bluesky, X, Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Bluesky had grown to 25.5 million users as of December 20 (archived here) but attracts a fraction of the active users of X (archived here) and Meta's Threads (archived here). Several media organizations and public figures said they joined the platform over concerns about misinformation following the 2024 US election and Twitter's acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk.
However, Bluesky did not run the ads shared on social media.
A reverse image search reveals artist Winston Tseng shared the signs as part of a project he called "social media (dis)engagement" (archived here).
Tseng confirmed he created the ads and said they are "a satirical reflection of social media today."
"As parody ads, I understand people see them as official claims of what Bluesky is or promises, but they're more an indictment of what social media experiences have devolved into," Tseng told AFP in a December 20 direct message.
AFP has previously debunked posts misrepresenting Tseng's art, which often alludes to US social and political issues such as gun control, climate change and reproductive rights (archived here).
A technical adviser for Bluesky also responded to a post about the signs saying the platform was not involved with the campaign (archived here).
To be clear, this is not us. We dont know who is doing this.
— Uai ( @why.bsky.team) 5 December 2024 at 23:33
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey created Bluesky in 2019 as a "decentralized" version of the older social media site, allowing users to store data on servers the company does not own.
Dorsey left the Bluesky board in May 2024 and urged users to remain on X. CEO Julia Graber runs Bluesky as a public benefit corporation (archived here).
AFP contacted Bluesky for additional comment, but no response was forthcoming.
More of AFP's reporting on misinformation in the United States is available here.
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