Bluesky has joined the list of social media platforms that are reporting significant growth in the number of users abandoning X, formerly known as Twitter, since Donald Trump's recent victory in the U.S. presidential election. Concerns that an imminent change in X's terms of service could complicate legal actions have lent further momentum to the shift. Bluesky said it gained about 2.5 million new users in the past week, pushing its total user base above 16 million.

"We're seeing record levels of user activity, including a sharp rise in new accounts, likes, and follows. We're set to gain 1 million new users in just one day," Bluesky said.

Notably, several figures and entities have publicly declared their intent to leave X over concerns with platform content and the pending change in terms: the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate, British news outlet The Guardian, and CNN host Don Lemon.

In the run-up to this last election cycle, misinformation analysts hammered X for allowing the spread of false narratives in key battleground states. But on November 6-after Trump's victory-X logged 46.5 million visits in the US-its most in a year and a 38% increase over recent daily averages, according to SimilarWeb data. More than 115,000 users deleted their X accounts-an unprecedented surge since Elon Musk took over the company.

In contrast, Bluesky took the lead on November 6, with about 1.2 million visitors, surpassing Meta's Threads with around 950,000 visitors. While the latter is still leading in terms of the overall number of mobile app users, the uptick at Bluesky marks the changing tide of user preference.

As Sensor Tower market analyst Abraham Yousef said, "The sudden growth, especially for Bluesky, may correlate with a rise in controversial content or technical issues on X. The exodus of high-profile accounts could be an indicator to users that X is not the platform for them anymore, and that could drive users toward alternatives."

Bluesky's surge comes ahead of a change to X's terms that will go into effect on Friday, requiring that litigation related to the platform be heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts in Tarrant County, Texas. The Center for Countering Digital Hate said the move could play into the hands of Musk, allowing favorable judicial decisions in disputes.

"This new policy lets Musk sue in courts he thinks will be friendly," said the nonprofit, which has been critical of X's approach to moderating harmful content.

In spite of the growth, Bluesky's active user base remains modest compared with its rivals. Threads boasts 252 million monthly active users, while X has about 317 million, according to Sensor Tower.

Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co, added that "X could be in a stronger position than ever because it aligns with the views of President-elect Trump. Competitive platforms are hindered by trying to catch up given the natural network advantages of microblogging services.".