Twitter alternative Bluesky hits 19 million users amid post-election surge

Bluesky, an alternative to the social networking website previously known as Twitter, reached 19 million users Sunday amid a surge of interest in the wake of the U.S. election, according to the company.

More than 5 million people signed up for the app between Monday and Sunday night, according to data from one tracker. Bluesky has also become one of the most popular apps in the app stores, surpassing Twitter/X in some countries.

Bluesky started as a project within Twitter in 2019 before going independent in 2021. Billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in October 2022 caused increasing interest in Bluesky but this month’s surge has been the highest to date.

Bluesky reached 7 million users in September, 13 million in late October, 15 million on Tuesday, and 19 million on Sunday night. At the current rate, the app could reach 20 million by Monday night.

It’s unclear how many of those 19 million users are actively using the app. Data from one tracker showed that a record 2.6 million accounts liked a post on Saturday, up from 844,720 unique likers a day before the U.S. election.

Bluesky COO Rose Wang told The Verge last week that a majority of new users are coming from the United States.

Musk is an outspoken supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, which has fueled the growing interest in Bluesky. X under Musk has also been criticized for enabling the spread of harmful content, including misinformation.

Over the past few weeks, a growing number of companies and celebrities have left X, with some of them choosing to set up profiles on Bluesky. British newspaper The Guardian announced on Wednesday that it would no longer post on X. Among other celebrities, Star Wars actor Mark Hamill joined Bluesky on Saturday.

Bluesky remains relatively small compared to Meta’s Threads, which recently reported more than 275 million monthly users, though most of them are linked to Instagram accounts.