Bluesky is changing course by allowing users to opt out of a change that would expose their posts to the public web. Last month, the company announced that its decentralized alternative to Twitter/X would soon open a public web interface that would allow anyone to see posts on its platform, even if they weren’t invited to the app, which remains closed. beta version. . Even though the team missed the “end of the month” deadline for a public web release, it was upset. Many users were upset that their posts would be made public on the web, without the option to set their accounts to private, aka “friends only” mode, like they do on X.
In one post On Wednesday, Bluesky announced that its plans to open a public web interface have been postponed — a move likely due to user feedback on the issue.
The company shared that “the upcoming release will not yet have public web viewing enabled, but will have a tool to opt out of it.”
However, Bluesky subtly pushed back against the idea that anyone should have felt their posts on Bluesky were private or protected by reminding users that “posts, profile and likes are all public data. However, they are not it’s exactly the fault of users who may have been lulled into a false sense of security here.Bluesky first launched in February as an invite-only app and has remained invite-only for many months since then, even as new Twitter/X competitors emerged, including Instagram threads.The company appeared to be in no rush to open up to the public, and as such, users likely felt comfortable that until it did, they would have the option to lock their accounts if necessary.
But Bluesky surprised users by announcing that a public interface is coming soon, ahead of any option for a private mode for user profiles. Many clamored for this feature in replies to Bluesky’s post. As one user, @wagoner, clearly put it, “…this is completely wrong. Allow privacy first, then make bluesky public.”
Now, it looks like Bluesky is listening to its user base by rolling back the public web interface and debuting an opt-out tool.
The company explains that the opt-out tool will only affect its logout view Bluesky app itself, but recommends that other third-party apps on the open network respect the setting. However, it doesn’t seem to have any ability to force them to do so, so an option to set user profiles to private would be a better option for account privacy.
Bluesky said it will soon share how users can use the tool to opt out of the public interface and explain to developers how to ensure compatibility with other apps as well.
The release of a public web interface seems designed to keep Bluesky part of the larger conversation about Twitter/X alternatives, as well as make its platform more accessible to a wider user base, even if it remains invite-only .
But the launch of Threads, which now has nearly 100 million monthly active users and plans to support ActivityPub — the same protocol that powers Mastodon, another decentralized alternative to X — makes Bluesky look increasingly like it might have wrong bet on the future of decentralized social media. No matter how good its own AT Protocol might be, it doesn’t have the momentum that ActivityPub has, given Instagram’s promises to enter this space. (Whether Instagram will end up supporting ActivityPub remains to be seen, of course, but it seems that’s still the plan, given that the app already offers a way to verify your Threads profile on Mastodon.)
Bluesky’s sheen might wear off on some in these next few months, especially as he’s had moderation issues. Initially, invitations to the social network were such a hot commodity that they sold for hundreds of dollars on eBay. Today, invitations are available on eBay but only for one two dollars, suggesting that demand has decreased. The company has continued to roll out more tools for its users, such as automated moderation tools and user and moderation lists, and hit the one million user milestone in September, but without opening its doors to the public, users may find other places for networking. including Mastodon and Threads, if not X.
