Bluesky’s First Transparency Report Highlights Surge in User Reports and Legal Demands
Bluesky, the decentralized social media platform, has unveiled its inaugural transparency report, shedding light on the platform’s growth, user engagement, and the challenges it faces in content moderation and legal compliance. This comprehensive report offers insights into the platform’s operations throughout 2025, marking a significant step towards openness and accountability.
Platform Growth and User Engagement
In 2025, Bluesky experienced a remarkable 60% increase in its user base, expanding from 25.9 million to 41.2 million users. This growth encompasses accounts hosted on Bluesky’s infrastructure as well as those operating independently within the decentralized network built on the AT Protocol. Users generated 1.41 billion posts during the year, representing 61% of all content ever shared on the platform. Notably, 235 million of these posts included media, accounting for 62% of all media content shared to date.
Rise in User Reports
The surge in user activity was accompanied by a significant increase in moderation reports. Bluesky received 9.97 million user reports in 2025, a 54% rise from the 6.48 million reports in 2024. This uptick closely mirrors the platform’s user growth over the same period. Approximately 3% of the user base, or 1.24 million users, submitted reports. The primary categories of these reports were:
– Misleading Content (43.73%): This category, which includes spam, accounted for 4.36 million reports. Within this, spam was the most reported issue, with 2.49 million instances.
– Harassment (19.93%): Encompassing 1.99 million reports, this category included hate speech (approximately 55,400 reports), targeted harassment (about 42,520 reports), trolling (29,500 reports), and doxxing (around 3,170 reports). A significant portion of these reports pertained to antisocial behavior, such as rude remarks that didn’t fit into other specific categories.
– Sexual Content (13.54%): Of the 1.52 million reports in this category, the majority concerned mislabeling, where adult content wasn’t appropriately tagged with metadata. Other issues included nonconsensual intimate imagery (about 7,520 reports), abusive content (approximately 6,120 reports), and deepfakes (over 2,000 reports).
– Violence (24,670 reports): This category was divided into threats or incitement (about 10,170 reports), glorification of violence (6,630 reports), and extremist content (3,230 reports).
In addition to user-generated reports, Bluesky’s automated systems flagged 2.54 million potential violations. The platform also noted a 79% decline in daily reports of antisocial behavior following the implementation of a system that reduced the visibility of toxic replies by placing them behind an extra click, similar to measures adopted by other social media platforms. Furthermore, user reports per 1,000 monthly active users decreased by 50.9% from January to December.
Legal Requests and Compliance
Bluesky reported a fivefold increase in legal requests from law enforcement agencies, government regulators, and legal representatives in 2025, totaling 1,470 requests, up from 238 in 2024. This escalation underscores the growing attention from authorities as the platform expands.
Moderation Actions and Enforcement
The platform intensified its moderation efforts in 2025, resulting in the removal of 2.44 million items, including accounts and content. This marks a significant increase from the previous year, which saw 66,308 account takedowns and 35,842 automated account removals. Moderators also removed 6,334 records, with automated systems taking down an additional 282.
Bluesky issued 3,192 temporary suspensions and 14,659 permanent removals for ban evasion. The majority of permanent suspensions targeted accounts engaged in inauthentic behavior, spam networks, and impersonation.
The platform demonstrated a preference for labeling content over outright removal. In 2025, Bluesky applied 16.49 million labels to content, a 200% year-over-year increase, while account takedowns grew by 104%, from 1.02 million to 2.08 million. Most labels pertained to adult and suggestive content or nudity.
Regulatory Compliance and Age Verification
Bluesky’s transparency report also addresses regulatory compliance and age verification measures. The platform has been proactive in adapting to new global regulations, including the U.K.’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act. In response to age-assurance laws in various U.S. states, Bluesky has implemented verification systems to ensure compliance while maintaining user privacy.
Conclusion
Bluesky’s first transparency report provides a detailed overview of the platform’s rapid growth, the challenges it faces in content moderation, and its commitment to regulatory compliance. By sharing this information, Bluesky aims to foster trust and accountability within its user community and the broader public.
