Bluesky pedophilia controversy: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:30, 7 January 2025

The Bluesky pedophilia controversy was a series of controversies in 2024, in which the online social network Bluesky was accused of being a "safe space" for "pedophiles" and child pornography. These claims intensified in late November, in the wake of Donald Trump's second election victory, when liberal and left-leaning users of Elon Musk's X.com (formerly Twitter) started leaving said site for Bluesky, a site more closely associated with Liberal political orthodoxy via its founder, Jack Dorsey. Liberal users of the network were accused by some media of sharing copious amounts of child pornography and then pushing zoophilia, polyamory and pedophilia as social identities.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] A bizarre pizzagate-like conspiracy theory involving the childlove logo and that of Bluesky had previously circulated, appearing to go no further than the fact both logos represented butterflies.^[5]

Events

A gimmick account on X.com named Libs of Bluesky (@libsofbluesky^[6] in reference to the better known Libs of TikTok) was instrumental in scandalizing the venture in late November, sharing various material intended to represent the network as a hive of insane "wokery". While this included political meltdowns and influencers wearing diapers, the account posted up to 20 statuses referring to MAPs, who were building a community of roughly equivalent size to the 2021 Twitter MAP Community. One such status (misrepresenting what appeared to be a fake right wing troll account) gained 2.5M impressions,^[7] and the series in total attracted around 5M.^[8] Other targets included Mu,^[9] and the administrator of NNIA via a "panda-eyes sock-puppet" he operated on Bluesky, and claimed to have successfully appealed the suspension of on two occasions during better times.^[10]

Users of Reddit subsequently made the false claim that all MAP-related activity on Bluesky was a hoax perpetuated by right-wing trolls.^[11] Numerous accounts referencing MAPs were then indiscriminately purged from Bluesky, regardless of whether or not they were hoaxes. Jim Burton and Brian Ribbon of Mu confirmed that the account they operated was followed by 200 MAPs and interacted with many tens of them at the point it was suspended.^[12] Three accounts claiming to represent Virtuous Pedophiles then appeared,^[13] gaining around 400 followers, and accounts associated with MEDAL and Newgon also appeared. With moderation in panic-mode, the bulk of these were swiftly removed. Notably, multiple MAP accounts received incitements to suicide and other violent messaging from accounts that were not removed.

Bluesky, manned only by 20 full-time members of staff at the time, released a statement admitting to indiscriminately removing accounts according to arbitrary child-protection criteria, and inviting them to appeal. Whether this was in relation to non-hoax MAP accounts and/or lolicon accounts, remains unclear at this point.^[14]^[15] A subsequent development was the reinstatement of a few accounts upon appeal, after Bluesky had been able to employ more moderation staff and increase the quality and depth of information underpinning their moderation decisions. These were typically Lolicons and Zoophiles, for example, who supported MAP Rights from the sidelines.

Previous claims Bluesky tolerated or failed to deal with child pornography

External links

Jeremy Malcolm - Recalls his side of the controversy.

References

↑ Leftist X Refugees Flood Bluesky with Complaints, Censorship Requests, and Child Pornography (Breitbart)
↑ Dems bolt X for Bluesky and it’s allegedly already full of pervs and pedos (Bizpacreview)
↑ Daily Caller: Re. polyamory
↑ Take A Glimpse Into The Deranged New Playground For Online Liberals
↑ Butterfly logo conspiracy theory
↑ Libs Of Bluesky, see also BlueSkyPedos
↑ Archive: Bob the Blue Wall Builder on Libs of Bluesky
↑ MU MAP Forum, documenting a list of X statuses and the Reddit threads that ensued
↑ Mu account at an earlier point
↑ Comrade Lecter: On successful appeal of suspension and subsequent third suspension
↑ Mu Verify: Mu and the MAP movement
↑ Personal communication via email, screenshots. Burton notes that the number of accounts dedicated to masturbating over sexual fantasies of children was "out of control, just like on Twitter" and estimates that if censors "lifted the thumb" on MAP social networking, communities would grow to "over 9,000 politically "serious" MAPs" within a year.
↑ Virped's supposed account, another was said to have been verified against their domain. Subsequent site notice read "VirPed has no official account on any social media platform at this time. As of now, this website is the only place where we make statements endorsed by the organization. We have had official accounts in the past on Twitter/X and Bluesky but no longer. We are aware that imposter accounts also have existed." leaving us none the wiser.
↑ Bluesky official statement
↑ BlueSky Sees Surge in New Users and Child Sexual Abuse Material

[1] Leftist X Refugees Flood Bluesky with Complaints, Censorship Requests, and Child Pornography (Breitbart)

[2] Dems bolt X for Bluesky and it’s allegedly already full of pervs and pedos (Bizpacreview)

[3] Daily Caller: Re. polyamory

[4] Take A Glimpse Into The Deranged New Playground For Online Liberals

[5] Butterfly logo conspiracy theory

[6] Libs Of Bluesky, see also BlueSkyPedos

[7] Archive: Bob the Blue Wall Builder on Libs of Bluesky

[8] MU MAP Forum, documenting a list of X statuses and the Reddit threads that ensued

[9] Mu account at an earlier point

[10] Comrade Lecter: On successful appeal of suspension and subsequent third suspension

[11] Mu Verify: Mu and the MAP movement

[12] Personal communication via email, screenshots. Burton notes that the number of accounts dedicated to masturbating over sexual fantasies of children was "out of control, just like on Twitter" and estimates that if censors "lifted the thumb" on MAP social networking, communities would grow to "over 9,000 politically "serious" MAPs" within a year.

[13] Virped's supposed account, another was said to have been verified against their domain. Subsequent site notice read "VirPed has no official account on any social media platform at this time. As of now, this website is the only place where we make statements endorsed by the organization. We have had official accounts in the past on Twitter/X and Bluesky but no longer. We are aware that imposter accounts also have existed." leaving us none the wiser.

[14] Bluesky official statement

[15] BlueSky Sees Surge in New Users and Child Sexual Abuse Material

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:GdLttU1XcAAOp c.jpg|thumb|While claims about "pedophilia" running rampant on Bluesky predated the Nov 2024 controversy, these screens document a series of fake (approx 4) and real (approx 16) accounts cited by the gimmick account, ''Libs of Bluesky'' around that time]]
+__NOTOC__[[File:GdLttU1XcAAOp c.jpg|thumb|While claims about "pedophilia" running rampant on Bluesky predated the Nov 2024 controversy, these screens document a series of fake (approx 4) and real (approx 16) accounts cited by the gimmick account, ''Libs of Bluesky'' around that time]]
 The '''Bluesky pedophilia controversy''' was a series of controversies in '''2024''', in which the online social network '''[[Wikipedia:Bluesky|Bluesky]]''' was accused of being a "safe space" for "pedophiles" and [[child pornography]]. These claims intensified in late November, in the wake of Donald Trump's second election victory, when liberal and left-leaning users of Elon Musk's X.com (formerly ''Twitter'') started leaving said site for Bluesky, a site more closely associated with Liberal political orthodoxy via its founder, Jack Dorsey. Liberal users of the network were accused by some media of sharing copious amounts of child pornography and then pushing [[zoophilia]], polyamory and [[pedophilia]] as social identities.<ref>[https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2024/11/18/leftists-fleeing-x-for-bluesky-flood-platform-with-complaints-censorship-requests-and-child-pornography/amp/ Leftist X Refugees Flood Bluesky with Complaints, Censorship Requests, and Child Pornography (Breitbart)]</ref><ref>[https://www.bizpacreview.com/2024/11/24/dems-bolt-x-for-bluesky-and-its-allegedly-already-full-of-pervs-and-pedos-1505124/ Dems bolt X for Bluesky and it’s allegedly already full of pervs and pedos (Bizpacreview)]</ref><ref>[https://dailycaller.com/2024/11/21/liberal-bluesky-social-media-platform-trump-era-x/ Daily Caller: Re. polyamory]</ref><ref>[https://dailycaller.com/2024/11/21/liberal-bluesky-social-media-platform-trump-era-x/ Take A Glimpse Into The Deranged New Playground For Online Liberals]</ref> A bizarre [[pizzagate]]-like conspiracy theory involving the [[childlove]] logo and that of Bluesky had previously circulated, appearing to go no further than the fact both logos represented butterflies.<ref>[https://www.dailydot.com/debug/conspiracy-theorists-bluesky-logo/ Butterfly logo conspiracy theory]</ref>
+==Events==
 A gimmick account on X.com named ''Libs of Bluesky'' (@libsofbluesky<ref>[https://x.com/Libsofbluesky/ Libs Of Bluesky], see also [https://x.com/BlueSkyPedos BlueSkyPedos]</ref> in reference to the better known Libs of TikTok) was instrumental in scandalizing the venture in late November, sharing various material intended to represent the network as a hive of insane [[Wikipedia:Woke|"wokery"]]. While this included political meltdowns and influencers wearing diapers, the account posted up to 20 statuses referring to [[Minor Attracted Person|MAPs]], who were building a community of roughly equivalent size to the [[MAP visibility on Twitter|2021 Twitter MAP Community]]. One such status (misrepresenting what appeared to be a fake right wing troll account) gained 2.5M impressions,<ref>[https://archive.ph/TWPC3 Archive: Bob the Blue Wall Builder on Libs of Bluesky]</ref> and the series in total attracted around 5M.<ref>[https://forum.map-union.org/viewtopic.php?t=709 MU MAP Forum, documenting a list of X statuses and the Reddit threads that ensued]</ref> Other targets included [[Mu]],<ref>[https://archive.ph/TqRiG Mu account at an earlier point]</ref> and the administrator of [[NNIA]] via a "panda-eyes sock-puppet" he operated on Bluesky, and claimed to have successfully appealed the suspension of on two occasions during better times.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20241125233601/https://nnia.space/@comrade_lecter/113528663767065584 Comrade Lecter: On successful appeal of suspension and subsequent third suspension]</ref>
 [[File:Screenshot bsk.png|thumb|Response of Bluesky safety]]
-Users of Reddit subsequently made the false claim that all MAP-related activity on Bluesky was a hoax perpetuated by right-wing trolls.<ref>[https://www.map-union.org/blog/fact-check-mu-and-the-map-movement Mu Verify: Mu and the MAP movement]</ref> Numerous accounts referencing MAPs were then indiscriminately purged from Bluesky, regardless of whether or not they were hoaxes. Jim Burton and Brian Ribbon of [[Mu]] confirmed that the account they operated was followed by 200 MAPs and interacted with many tens of them at the point it was suspended.<ref>Personal communication via email, screenshots. Burton notes that the number of accounts dedicated to masturbating over sexual fantasies of children was "out of control, just like on Twitter" and estimates that if censors "lifted the thumb" on MAP social networking, communities would grow to "over 9,000 politically "serious" MAPs" within a year.</ref> Three accounts associated with [[Virtuous Pedophiles]] then appeared,<ref>[https://archive.ph/yketL Virped's account]</ref> gaining around 400 followers, and accounts associated with [[MEDAL]] and [[Newgon]] also appeared. With moderation in panic-mode, the bulk of these were swiftly removed.
+Users of Reddit subsequently made the false claim that all MAP-related activity on Bluesky was a hoax perpetuated by right-wing trolls.<ref>[https://www.map-union.org/blog/fact-check-mu-and-the-map-movement Mu Verify: Mu and the MAP movement]</ref> Numerous accounts referencing MAPs were then indiscriminately purged from Bluesky, regardless of whether or not they were hoaxes. Jim Burton and Brian Ribbon of [[Mu]] confirmed that the account they operated was followed by 200 MAPs and interacted with many tens of them at the point it was suspended.<ref>Personal communication via email, screenshots. Burton notes that the number of accounts dedicated to masturbating over sexual fantasies of children was "out of control, just like on Twitter" and estimates that if censors "lifted the thumb" on MAP social networking, communities would grow to "over 9,000 politically "serious" MAPs" within a year.</ref> Three accounts claiming to represent [[Virtuous Pedophiles]] then appeared,<ref>[https://archive.ph/yketL Virped's supposed account, another was said to have been verified against their domain]. Subsequent site notice read "VirPed has no official account on any social media platform at this time. As of now, this website is the only place where we make statements endorsed by the organization. We have had official accounts in the past on Twitter/X and Bluesky but no longer. We are aware that imposter accounts also have existed." leaving us none the wiser.</ref> gaining around 400 followers, and accounts associated with [[MEDAL]] and [[Newgon]] also appeared. With moderation in panic-mode, the bulk of these were swiftly removed. Notably, multiple MAP accounts received incitements to suicide and other violent messaging from accounts that were not removed.
-Bluesky, manned only by 20 full-time members of staff at the time, released a statement admitting to indiscriminately removing accounts according to arbitrary child-protection criteria, and inviting them to appeal. Whether this was in relation to non-hoax MAP accounts and/or [[lolicon]] accounts, remains unclear at this point.<ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/safety.bsky.app/post/3lbsqm7kfns23 Bluesky official statement]</ref>
+Bluesky, manned only by 20 full-time members of staff at the time, released a statement admitting to indiscriminately removing accounts according to arbitrary child-protection criteria, and inviting them to appeal. Whether this was in relation to non-hoax MAP accounts and/or [[lolicon]] accounts, remains unclear at this point.<ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/safety.bsky.app/post/3lbsqm7kfns23 Bluesky official statement]</ref><ref>[https://decrypt.co/293717/bluesky-see-surge-in-users-and-child-pornography BlueSky Sees Surge in New Users and Child Sexual Abuse Material]</ref> A subsequent development was the reinstatement of a few accounts upon appeal, after Bluesky had been able to employ more moderation staff and increase the quality and depth of information underpinning their moderation decisions. These were typically Lolicons and Zoophiles, for example, who supported MAP Rights from the sidelines.
 ==Previous claims Bluesky tolerated or failed to deal with [[child pornography]]==
@@ Line 13: / Line 15: @@
 *[https://nucleo.jor.br/english/2024-09-24-bluesky-struggles-to-moderate-csam/ Bluesky struggles to moderate child abuse material in Portuguese]
 *[https://www.heise.de/en/news/After-a-record-run-Bluesky-struggles-with-a-wave-of-content-complaints-10040148.html After a record run: Bluesky struggles with a wave of content complaints]
+==External links==
+*[https://jere.my/bluesky-melts-down-over-jesse-singal/ Jeremy Malcolm] - Recalls his side of the controversy.
 ==References==
 [[Category:Official Encyclopedia]][[Category:Censorship]][[Category:Child Pornography]][[Category:Cyber Activism]][[Category:TV & Media]][[Category:Websites]][[Category:Websites: Generic]][[Category:Law/Crime]][[Category:Law/Crime: International]][[Category:Law/Crime: American]][[Category:History & Events]][[Category:History & Events: American]][[Category:History & Events: International]][[Category:History & Events: 2020s]][[Category:History & Events: Moral controversies]]