The microblogging site says it now has more than 15 million users, up from nine million in September.

Social media platform Bluesky has gained more than a million new users since the US presidential election, benefiting from an exodus of people unhappy with X’s direction led by billionaire owner Elon Musk.

The microblogging site said on Wednesday that it topped 15 million users, up from about 9 million in September.

Launched in 2019 by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Bluesky has gained a reputation as a haven for left-leaning users frustrated by X’s rightward turn under Musk’s stewardship.

Some Blusky users have cited Musk’s alliance with US President-elect Donald Trump and the rise of hateful content on X as reasons for jumping on the platform.

“Hello less hateful world,” billionaire Mark Cuban, who endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris during the election, posted Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Guardian newspaper announced it would no longer post content on X due to “disturbing content” on the “toxic media platform”, including racism and conspiracy theories.

The Guardian said, “The US presidential election campaign only served to highlight what we’ve long considered: that X is a toxic media platform and its owner, Elon Musk, is trying to shape the political discourse. has been able to use his influence for In a statement on its website.

“We believe the benefits of being at X now outweigh the negatives and that resources can be better used to promote our journalism elsewhere.”

Blusky himself has played up his image as a haven for disaffected liberals.

After it was reported that Musk would watch the election results with Trump, the platform posted on X that none of its team “will sit down with any presidential candidate tonight and tell them what you’re seeing online.” It will not give direct access to control”.

X has experienced several waves of user exodus since Musk took over the platform in October 2022, though the site still boasts a much larger user base than Bluesky.

According to Internet traffic analyst Similarweb, about 115,000 US-based web visitors deactivated their X accounts the day after the US election, the largest single-day drop under Musk.