Bluesky, the social media platform, faced criticism this week for not having a system in place to automatically prevent users from registering usernames that contained racial slurs. On Wednesday, the company received multiple reports about a user with a slur in their username. Although Bluesky eventually resolved the issue, many people were upset that the startup did not apologize for the oversight. Instead, on early Saturday morning, Bluesky seemed to downplay the incident as a one-off occurrence that was quickly addressed.
“On Wednesday, users reported an account that had a slur as its handle. This handle violated our community guidelines, and we made a mistake by allowing it to be created,” the company stated. “Within 40 minutes of the report, we took down the account and patched the code that allowed this to happen.”
Bluesky emphasized that it had recently made significant investments in its Trust and Safety team and would continue to invest in moderation, feedback, and support systems to accommodate its growing user base. Despite the criticism, Bluesky has not responded to Engadget’s request for a comment. Prior to issuing a statement on the incident, Bluesky quietly added the n-word and other racial slurs to a list of “reserved” words, as discovered by Engadget.
The company’s statement, which was made in response to a viral post by Scott Hirleman, host of the Data Mesh Radio podcast, appears to have been prompted by public outrage. Hirleman tagged Bluesky’s executive team, including CEO Jay Graber, and accused the company of failing to address a profound issue of anti-blackness on its platform. The post has garnered over 700 reactions and about 50 comments.
While no social media platform is entirely free from racism, it is surprising that Bluesky did not already have filters in place to prevent the use of such a basic racial slur like the n-word, especially considering that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is one of Bluesky’s backers. Under Dorsey’s leadership, Twitter often fell short in effectively addressing racial issues and protecting marginalized users.
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Deepak Sen is a tech enthusiast who covers the latest technological innovations, from AI to consumer gadgets. His articles provide readers with a glimpse into the ever-evolving world of technology.
