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Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive representing parts of the Queens and Bronx boroughs of New York City, became the first user on the social media site Bluesky to reach 1 million followers earlier this week.
Bluesky has been around since the fall of 2021. However, it wasn’t until last month that the site gained popularity as an alternative to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Many users shifted platforms due to their disdain for billionaire Elon Musk, who owns X and was a major supporter of Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential race. After Trump’s win in November, many liberal and left-leaning X users sought different options for social media, citing the fact that X has become overrun with hateful, far right accounts as a result of lax regulation under Musk.
Ocasio-Cortez was among those who started a Bluesky account after Trump’s win. In a post currently pinned to the top of her feed, the New York lawmaker explained why she prefers Bluesky to X.
“A thing I like here is it’s okay to have moments of happiness in public without being broadly scolded, and I believe that sustaining this kind of humanity will be very important as we resist fascism,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in the post. “We have to sustain each other. Making joy isn’t denial, it’s how we will survive.”
While Ocasio-Cortez’s X account is still popular and somewhat active, it is often the target of ridicule and attacks from right-wing accounts.
In a recent post remarking on her achievement of 1 million followers, Ocasio-Cortez expounded upon why she made the shift.
“People are leaving Twitter because it’s not fun anymore and no one is obligated to be on a platform they don’t enjoy. It’s not rocket science,” she said.
Since the exodus of users from X to Bluesky over the past month, the latter site has amassed more than 24 million new accounts. Some faithful users of X and other commentators have claimed that the new site is nothing more than an echo chamber where liberal and left-leaning users only discuss ideas among themselves — but media journalist Parker Molloy has contested that critique.
“I think that our default view of social media has become one where insults have become the default, where interactions are a form of combat, and there’s an expectation that being online means bracing yourself for hostility at every turn,” Molloy wrote last month. “Bluesky challenges that norm, not by shutting out opposing views, but by creating a space where conversations aren’t immediately derailed by harassment or bad-faith arguments.”
“It’s not about avoiding disagreement — it’s about fostering an environment where disagreements can actually happen productively,” Molloy added.
Ocasio-Cortez made headlines for another reason this week: She’s reportedly mulling a run for the top Democratic spot on the House Oversight Committee, which is tasked with ensuring “the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies.” As the ranking member of the committee, Ocasio-Cortez would be a leading voice against Republicans and the Trump administration in their attempts to use the government to go after their perceived political enemies.
“I’ll be making a decision shortly,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
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