This is called a debacle. For several days, the Trump administration has been trying to impose itself on Bluesky, a social network that presents itself as an alternative to X, the old Twitter. On October 17, the White House created a profile on the platform, Techcrunch reports. But the strategy is far from having worked as planned.
As on other platforms, the profile of the White House is increasing attacks against its Democratic adversaries. With one objective: turn the closure against the opposition. The profile accuses Democrats of being responsible for the paralysis of the US administration, which enters its third week.
Memes about closure
The tone is also set from the first publication. “What’s up, Bluesky? We thought you might have missed some of our biggest hits, so we put this together for you,” the profile says in a message accompanied by a short video. We can see memes of Donald Trump with a crown on the front page of the Times, the Gulf of Mexico renamed the Gulf of America or some highlights from the beginning of his term.
In another post, the White House shared a SpongeBob SquarePants meme, suggesting that Democrats were only seeking to “give free health insurance to immigrants who arrived illegally.”
Another post claims that if “the Halloween season can be scary, nothing is scarier than Schumer’s shutdown (Chuck Schumer is the Democratic Minority Leader of the Senate in the United States, editor’s note). One video even compares immigrants… to aliens.
Quickly, several government agencies followed suit at the White House and landed on Bluesky. These include the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Interior, or the Department of Health and Human Services. All of these accounts quickly began posting messages attacking Democrats and blaming them for the shutdown.
Blocked by 91,000 profiles
“We have heard that this is an ideal place for open and frank dialogue. That is why we are here to discuss how the paralysis of the Democratic Party is weakening our country on the international stage,” says, for example, the State Department. According to several experts, this statement could violate the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits public agencies from engaging in partisan political activities.
So many publications far from pleasing Bluesky users. In fact, the platform is known for its progressive orientation. Therefore, many popular accounts on the social network invited their subscribers to simply block the White House. As a result, less than 48 hours after its arrival, the White House account has already become one of the most blocked on Bluesky.
According to ClearSky, which tracks Bluesky blocking statistics, the White House account is blocked by approximately 91,000 accounts, while only 10,000 subscribers follow it. The other newly created government accounts are also among the most blocked of the week, occupying the top five positions in the ranking during the last 24 hours.
The only account blocked by more Bluesky users is that of vice president JD Vance, who arrived on the platform last June.
Source: BFM TV
