INDEX / DIRECTORY / BLUESKY / POLITICAL

Bluesky POLITICAL

POLITICAL AUDIT UPDATED 2026-09-12
Political Score 2.34 /10 D Bluesky - BDS-1000 210
Political 2.34

Evidence-only forensic audit. Scoring happens downstream - see the main dossier for the composite assessment.

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Corporate Communications & Public Stance

Bluesky Safety stated on 30 May 2025 that people in Gaza and other crisis areas need platforms to share their experiences and seek support, and that Bluesky was committed to ensuring they could be heard.1

Reporting in August 2025 described Bluesky as responding to an open letter about Gaza-fundraiser account actions by referring to conduct contrary to its Community Guidelines, encouraging fundraising through “authentic accounts,” and stating that it maintained an appeals process; the company did not respond to the outlet’s subsequent request for comment.2, 3

The reported Gaza-specific company communication and account actions documented in the supplied material occurred in 2025, after July and November 2024.1, 3

Bluesky’s July 2023 community letter documented moderation against a racial-slur account and said the company intended to increase transparency around high-profile moderation decisions, without addressing Israel–Palestine specifically.4

No public evidence identified of a published Gaza- or Palestine-specific moderation directive, regional content rule, instruction to suppress Palestinian or pro-Palestinian speech, Gaza-specific remediation programme, verified-fundraiser exception process, independent audit, or published reversal protocol.5, 6, 7, 8

Mike Masnick wrote in October 2023 about government pressure on platforms concerning Israel–Hamas-war disinformation, arguing that governments should not threaten websites over moderation and warning that such pressure can silence dissent and marginalized voices.9 His article expresses content-moderation and state-pressure principles, rather than a Bluesky corporate policy, donation, or operational decision.9

A May 2024 secondary report stated that Jack Dorsey supported Columbia student protesters and criticized law-enforcement responses to them; its characterization of the protest activity as pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel is secondary-source reporting linked to underlying X posts that were not retrievable in the supplied research.10 This reported activity occurred after Dorsey’s documented Bluesky board departure and does not establish a Bluesky corporate act.11, 10

No public evidence identified in the targeted research of attributable Israel–Palestine statements, donations, lobbying or advocacy roles, military-welfare support, settlement affiliations, or relevant political investments by Jay Graber, Toni Schneider, Jeremie Miller, or Kinjal Shah.12, 13, 14, 15 The company’s Gaza-fundraiser communications are corporate evidence and do not establish a personal Graber statement.1, 3

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

No public evidence identified in the bounded research of Bluesky offices, subsidiaries, resellers, service contracts, government or military customers, or technical infrastructure in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, or Israeli settlements.16, 17, 18

The supplied document-scoped review found no listing of Bluesky Social, PBC, Bluesky, Jay Graber, Jack Dorsey, Jeremie Miller, or Rose Wang in the 2023 OHCHR settlement-business database.16

The same names were not found in the supplied document-scoped review of the 2025 OHCHR settlement-business database update.17

The supplied review also found no mention of those names in UN Human Rights Council report A/HRC/59/23, which examines business and other conduct connected to the occupied Palestinian territory.18

No public evidence identified in the bounded research of legal or regulatory proceedings concerning Bluesky’s operations in those territories.16, 17, 18

The targeted principal-and-vehicle review located no documented connection between Bluesky’s identified principals’ Bluesky roles, or the specifically identified vehicles True Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Automattic, or Dorsey’s historic association, and a named Israeli surveillance, cybersecurity, cloud, military-technology, defence, settlement-active, OHCHR-listed, sovereign-debt, or other Israeli recipient.12, 13, 14, 15 This is a searched absence rather than an exhaustive review of every fund portfolio, limited partner, personal brokerage holding, cryptocurrency wallet, or private investment.14, 15

True Ventures’ current Schneider profile describes a broad remit spanning software, connected devices, and climate technology, without identifying a relevant Israeli recipient.14 Blockchain Capital’s Shah profile describes investment-diligence and portfolio-support responsibilities, without identifying such a recipient.15

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

Bluesky’s Community Guidelines, last updated in September 2025, prohibit spam, fraudulent fundraising, deceptive account practices, and efforts to bypass moderation; they describe a system using human moderators, automated systems, and user-selected labeling services.5

Bluesky’s 2024 moderation report said it used automated spam detection, expanded automated processing into additional report categories during 2024, and recognized that high-certainty automated actions could create false positives subject to appeal and human review.6

The report stated that Bluesky handled account-takedown appeals through its moderation email inbox and received 205,000 appeals of moderation decisions in 2024, but it did not provide Gaza-, Palestine-, fundraising-, rule-, or outcome-specific data.6

Current Terms permit appeals in-app or by email, require submission within two weeks, and state that Bluesky will notify the user after review.19, 20

MADR reported in May 2025 that complaints and its preliminary review suggested Gaza-fundraiser account actions were likely associated with spam and moderation-circumvention rules, including repeated fundraising-only posting, mass direct messages or tags, recreating removed accounts, and reposting campaigns from suspended accounts.21, 22

MADR’s explanation is an assessment of likely triggers rather than a published account-specific Bluesky enforcement notice.22

The Guardian identified two Gaza fundraiser account holders, Hanin Al-Batsh and Duaa Al-Madhoun, who reported in August 2025 that Al-Batsh had nearly all of more than 80 accounts created during the preceding six months deactivated and that her longest-lived account lasted 12 days, while Al-Madhoun said dozens of her accounts had been deleted.3

Those are reported first-person accounts rather than independently published enforcement records, and no authenticated account-level notices were located in the supplied research.3

The Guardian also reported accounts from Gazan fundraisers who said their accounts were repeatedly labelled as spam or deleted, while noting that those reported experiences did not establish discriminatory intent or a platform-wide enforcement rate.2

The Guardian reported stakeholder testimony that few people assisting Gaza fundraisers received responses to appeals, but that testimony does not quantify appeal handling or establish a platform-wide response rate.3

No public company record or independently documented Gaza-fundraiser reversal or reinstatement was identified, and the supplied evidence does not establish whether the reported Al-Batsh or Al-Madhoun actions were reversed.6, 3

Bluesky’s September 2024 Trust & Safety update, preceding the reported Gaza-fundraiser actions, described fake, scam, and spam accounts as among the two largest categories of user reports in the previous quarter and announced a pilot to automatically detect accounts clearly fake, scamming, or spamming.7

In 2024, Bluesky reported 35,842 automated account takedowns for spam and bot networks alongside 66,308 moderator takedowns.6

Its 2025 Transparency Report recorded 2.49 million spam reports in the general misleading-content category, without geographic or political-topic breakouts.8

Associated Press reported in December 2024 that researchers and users had identified duplicate and apparently automated accounts, including duplicate impersonators for 44 of the 100 most-followed individuals identified by one researcher; that researcher later said about two-thirds had been removed.23

In June 2025, Bluesky told The Daily Beast that a new account for U.S. Vice President JD Vance was automatically flagged because its systems detect impersonation attempts against public figures, and that the account was promptly restored and verified.24

The Vance incident is a documented non-Gazan false-positive and reversal, but concerns impersonation rather than fundraising or moderation circumvention and therefore cannot establish comparative treatment of Gaza fundraisers.24

No reliable matched comparison was identified for enforcement rates, labels, takedowns, appeal outcomes, reversals, response times, or visibility effects affecting Gaza, Palestinian, or pro-Palestinian accounts versus non-Gazan accounts engaged in equivalent fundraising, unsolicited messaging, tagging, spam, or account recreation.6, 3, 8

Accordingly, the supplied material does not support a finding that Bluesky differentially enforced equivalent conduct against Palestinian or pro-Palestinian accounts, and it also cannot rule such differential treatment out.6, 3, 8

A November 2024 GitHub feature request described what its community-user author called a “Gaza Bot” problem and requested an automatic spam labeler, but it is not a Bluesky moderation directive, enforcement decision, or validated factual account of the people described.25

The 2024 Trust & Safety update says country-specific labels may be used to comply with valid legal requests in particular jurisdictions, but it does not name Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Arabic, conflict-related fundraising, or a Gaza-specific enforcement rule.7

Bluesky’s 2025 Transparency Report describes platform-wide moderation and staffing expansion focused on bots, spam, and other scaled malicious activity, without Gaza/Palestine categories, geographic enforcement data, or account-outcome breakdowns; that lack of disaggregation prevents testing regional enforcement-pattern claims from the report.8

A peer-reviewed study of February 2023–May 2024 data found substantial Israel–Palestine discussion on Bluesky, two homophilic user clusters, and more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli posts by the end of its observation period; the study measures user discourse and network structure rather than Bluesky moderation decisions or corporate position.26

A September 2026 arXiv preprint analyzed 10.6 million default-service moderation labels from 2025 and describes a human–AI moderation system, but it does not report a Gaza/Palestine differential-enforcement analysis and is not a regulator’s finding or Gaza-specific audit.27

No public evidence identified in the bounded research of Israel–Palestine-related employee discipline, dismissals, union litigation, retail practices, product-origin policies, settlement labelling, or region-specific physical supply-chain practices.5, 6, 7, 8

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

Bluesky states that Twitter announced the underlying bluesky project in 2019, funded early work, and supplied initial funding to the separately formed entity; Bluesky later described that relationship as ending after Twitter changed ownership.28, 29

No public evidence identified in the bounded research that Bluesky markets military heritage, defence-sector origins, Israeli state-security ties, or a “Brand Israel” relationship.28, 29

No public evidence identified in the bounded research of Israeli or Palestinian government honours, hosted state officials, or formal partnerships with Israeli state, settlement, military, or state academic institutions.16, 17, 18

Jack Dorsey’s continuing association with Bluesky is historical and brand-contextual: Bluesky identifies him as helping fund and initiate the project, but the supplied materials do not identify him as a current founder-emeritus, officer, director, chair, formal spokesperson, or company representative.28, 29, 11 No formal company disavowal of that historic association was located.28, 29, 11

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

No public evidence identified in the bounded research of Bluesky corporate lobbying, PAC activity, anti-BDS advocacy, or corporate donations to the IDF, FIDF, JNF/KKL, settlement organisations, or military-welfare entities.16, 17, 18

No public evidence identified in the bounded research that Bluesky directed infrastructure, credits, logistics, or other corporate assets to Israeli, Palestinian, military, governmental, or state-aligned entities during the conflict.16, 17, 18

Bluesky’s May 2025 public response on Gaza-fundraiser enforcement confirms that the company was addressing that platform issue after July and November 2024.1, 3

Bluesky stated in March 2026 that Automattic and True Ventures are investors, while Axios reported that Blockchain Capital led Bluesky’s November 2024 Series A financing.30, 12 Those disclosures establish company-level investor relationships, but do not establish each named investor representative’s personal beneficial ownership, private investment portfolio, or control percentage.30, 12, 13, 14, 15

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Bluesky announced the formation of Bluesky PBLLC in February 2022, stating that the entity had been formed in late 2021 to develop and drive adoption of technologies for open and decentralized public conversation.28

In July 2023, Bluesky said it had converted from a public-benefit LLC to a public-benefit C corporation while retaining its mission and board, and its corporate page describes Bluesky as a Public Benefit Corporation.29, 31

Bluesky’s Terms of Service identify the service provider as Bluesky Social, PBC.19

Bluesky describes its product as a social protocol and open-source client/app based on the AT Protocol, with a services-led rather than advertising-led business model.29, 32

Bluesky’s public materials describe federation on the AT Protocol as including independently hosted Personal Data Servers, feeds, relays, app views, and labeling or moderation services.5, 32

Bluesky stated in July 2023 that it raised an $8 million seed round led by Neo and named additional investors including Automattic, Protocol Labs, Mana Industries, Joe Beda, Bob Young, Amjad Masad, Amir Shevat, Heather Meeker, Katelyn Donnelly, Ali Evans, Stav Erez, Kris Nóva, Brad Fitzpatrick, and Abdul Ly.29

Axios reported in November 2024 that Blockchain Capital led Bluesky’s $15 million Series A financing and that its general partner Kinjal Shah joined Bluesky’s board.30

No public evidence identified in the bounded research of a public charter, state-held share, corporate mandate, verified parent company, subsidiary list, or ownership structure expressly tied to Israeli or Palestinian geopolitical objectives.28, 29, 19

Bluesky Social, PBC is privately held, and the scoped searches located no relevant SEC issuer filing, primary shareholder register, proxy, cap table, ownership percentage, disclosed holder of 10% or more, or shareholder-control disclosure.19, 12, 33 The qualifying owners and control percentages therefore cannot be established from public primary disclosures located in the supplied research.19, 12, 33

Executive & Leadership Footprint

Toni Schneider became Bluesky’s permanent CEO on 10 July 2026, after serving as interim CEO from 9 March 2026.12, 13, 34 Jay Graber became Chief Innovation Officer on 9 March and was identified as Chief Innovation Officer and board chair in the July announcement.12, 34

Jay Graber stepped back as CEO on 9 March 2026 to become Chief Innovation Officer.12 Bluesky’s official LinkedIn communication states that Graber maintained her role as Board Chair.33 The located public materials do not disclose Graber’s equity percentage, voting rights, or a separate controlling-shareholder designation.12, 33

Schneider stated that he had been a Bluesky investor and adviser for approximately two years before his 9 March 2026 interim-CEO appointment.13 Bluesky stated that he had advised the company and Graber for more than a year and identified True Ventures as a Bluesky investor.12 Schneider remained a True Ventures partner while serving at Bluesky, but the available materials do not specify whether his Bluesky investment is personal, fund-held, or both; disclose his ownership percentage; establish a Bluesky board seat; or identify current decision authority beyond his CEO role.13, 14

Rose Wang was identified by Schneider as Bluesky’s COO when he first met Graber and Wang approximately two years before March 2026.13 No current formal officer roster, appointment date, shareholding, board membership, investment vehicle, voting authority, or current scope of Wang’s authority was located.13, 33

Bluesky’s February 2022 announcement identified Jay Graber as CEO and named Jack Dorsey, Jeremie Miller, and Graber as board members at that time.28

Bluesky confirmed in May 2024 that Jack Dorsey had left its board, and publicly thanked him for helping fund and initiate the project.11

Mike Masnick’s appointment to Bluesky’s Board of Directors on 6 August 2024 is confirmed by Bluesky’s official announcement, which identified him as Techdirt’s founder and editor and as a prior adviser and supporter of Bluesky’s mission.35 No public disclosure located establishes Masnick’s ownership percentage, personal investment vehicle, or additional decision rights.35

The current Bluesky FAQ lists Jay Graber, Jeremie Miller, Mike Masnick, and Kinjal Shah as directors.36 Blockchain Capital identifies Shah as a general partner since May 2018, with research-content strategy, investment-diligence, and portfolio-support responsibilities, and Bluesky’s Series A announcement ties her board appointment to that financing.30, 15 These materials do not establish that every Blockchain Capital investment is Shah’s personal investment or disclose her beneficial ownership in Bluesky.30, 15, 36

Jeremie Miller was a director in Bluesky’s February 2022 formation announcement and remains listed as a director in the current company FAQ; no ownership percentage, investment vehicle, control right beyond board membership, or voting allocation is disclosed.28, 36

Dorsey’s documented Bluesky board role ended in May 2024, and the supplied research located no current Bluesky decision authority, equity percentage, personal or family-office vehicle holding, founder-emeritus role, formal spokesperson role, or company-representative status.11, 33

Current directors, a complete current executive roster, ownership percentages, significant holders, and shareholder-control allocations were not established through the available primary corporate disclosures.19, 12, 33

Footnotes

  1. https://bsky.app/profile/safety.bsky.app/post/3lqeojmc7vs2t ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/aug/08/palestinians-gaza-bluesky-spam ↩ ↩2

  3. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/aug/08/palestinians-gaza-bluesky-spam ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  4. https://bsky.social/about/reports/2023-07-22-letter ↩

  5. https://bsky.social/about/support/community-guidelines ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. https://bsky.social/about/blog/01-17-2025-moderation-2024 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  7. https://bsky.social/about/blog/09-18-2024-trust-safety-update ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. https://bsky.social/about/blog/01-29-2026-transparency-report-2025 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  9. https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/11/sure-theres-disinfo-on-extwitter-but-the-eu-should-not-be-demanding-censorship/ ↩ ↩2

  10. https://www.vcpost.com/articles/126176/20240501/twitter-co-founder-and-former-ceo-jack-dorsey-supports-anti-israel-protesters-at-columbia-university.htm ↩ ↩2

  11. https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/05/jack-dorsey-says-hes-no-longer-on-the-bluesky-board/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  12. https://bsky.social/about/blog/03-09-2026-a-new-chapter-for-bluesky ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  13. https://toni.org/2026/03/09/coming-off-the-bench-for-bluesky/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  14. https://www.trueventures.com/team/toni-schneider ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  15. https://www.blockchaincapital.com/team/kinjal-shah ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  16. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/53/25 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  17. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/60/19 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  18. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/59/23 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  19. https://bsky.social/about/support/tos ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  20. https://bsky.social/about/support/tos ↩

  21. https://madr.network/bluesky-is-suspending-palestinian-fundraiser-accounts-heres-how-to-avoid-it/ ↩

  22. https://madr.network/bluesky-is-suspending-palestinian-fundraiser-accounts-heres-how-to-avoid-it/ ↩ ↩2

  23. https://apnews.com/article/bluesky-growth-users-bots-misinformation-ce9df3b9166ec1ba36f3d5278ff60dcb ↩

  24. https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-melts-down-over-jd-vances-short-lived-bluesky-suspension/ ↩ ↩2

  25. https://github.com/bluesky-social/atproto/issues/3134 ↩

  26. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0318034 ↩

  27. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11373 ↩

  28. https://bsky.social/about/blog/2-7-2022-overview ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  29. https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  30. https://www.axios.com/2024/11/22/bluesky-user-surge-investment ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  31. https://bsky.social/about ↩

  32. https://bsky.social/about/blog/6-13-2023-what-is-bluesky ↩ ↩2

  33. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bluesky-pbc_jay-graber-is-transitioning-from-ceo-to-a-activity-7436855838104825856-DUkm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  34. https://bsky.social/about/blog/07-10-2026-toni-schneider-ceo ↩ ↩2

  35. https://bsky.social/about/blog/08-06-2024-board ↩ ↩2

  36. https://bsky.social/about/faq ↩ ↩2 ↩3