Turkish X Users Flee to Bluesky as Censorship Escalates

Following a new wave of digital crackdowns, users in Turkey are increasingly abandoning X (formerly Twitter) and seeking refuge on Bluesky, a decentralized social media alternative. The shift comes amid growing state censorship, mounting platform restrictions, and concerns over freedom of expression.

The exodus began after the detention of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19 triggered nationwide protests. Just two days later, on March 21, Turkish authorities restricted access to more than 40 accounts – mostly student and youth groups – accused of threatening “national security and public order” under Article 8/A of Law No. 5651.

Over the next week, the censorship intensified. Women's rights activists, environmental organizations, and even animal rights groups were swept up in the ban wave. Prominent actors like Berna Laçin, Rojda Demirer, and Alican Yücesoy saw their X accounts blocked after supporting a boycott campaign launched by the opposition CHP party.

This isn’t the first time X has complied with Turkish censorship demands. The platform has previously limited access to pro-Kurdish voices and opposition media. Even beyond government-ordered take-downs, X’s internal algorithms now throttle posts – especially those that contain external links.

For example, bianet English, a human rights-focused media outlet, receives an equal number of pageviews from both X and Bluesky – despite having 12 times more followers on X.

Though X recently announced that it had filed a legal challenge with Turkey’s Constitutional Court to overturn some of these censorship orders, it has yet to enforce bans on several accounts targeted in the recent protest wave.

In response, Turkish users have started migrating to Bluesky, which positions itself as a decentralized and transparent alternative. Originally developed by Twitter in 2019 and spun off into a standalone company in 2021, Bluesky gives users more control over their data, feed algorithms, and moderation policies.

Bluesky has found an especially strong following among journalists, software developers, academics, and civil society advocates – many of whom are growing disillusioned with X’s moderation choices and censorship complicity.

However, Bluesky is now facing pressure too. According to Turkey’s Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD), at least 44 Bluesky accounts have been targeted for access restrictions under the same Article 8/A.

So far, Bluesky has not implemented any of these blocks, and the accounts remain publicly accessible in Turkey. But legal experts warn that if the platform refuses to comply, Turkish authorities could move to block the entire platform, as they have done with other sites in the past.

Turkey’s battle over online speech continues to escalate, and social platforms are increasingly caught in the middle. As censorship tightens, the question for users – and platforms like Bluesky – is whether resistance is sustainable, or if another blackout is looming.