Brasilia, September 1: Alexandre de Moraes, Minister of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil, issued an order to ban X from the country and imposed a penalty of 50,000 reais (USD 8,900) on users who use VPN to access the app. Elon Musk's X is no longer available in Brazil and it has reportedly benefitted to direct competitors like BlueSky and Threads. The US-based microblogging platform is an alternative to the X platform, which has allegedly witnessed a massive increase in userbase.

As reported by TechCrunch, BlueSky hit all-time highs in activity as around 500,000 new users joined the platform in the last two days amid the X shutdown in Brazil. Due to the influx of users, the app has ranked as the most popular free iPhone app. Meta's Threads followed behind, becoming the number two app on iOS in Brazil. Elon Musk As ‘Harry Potter’, Brazil Judge Alexandre de Mores As ‘Lord Voldemort’; Video Goes Viral on X About Fight for ‘Freedom of Speech’; Netizens React.

BlueSky CEO Jay Graber on New Users Joining Microblogging Platform in Brazil

Bom trabalho Brasil, você fez a escolha certa

(good job Brazil, you made the right choice)

[image or embed]

— Jay 🦋 (@jay.bsky.team) Sep 1, 2024 at 2:24 AM

President of Brazil Lula Suggesting Other Social Media/Microblogging Platform Against X

BlueSky CEO Jay Graber posted an image of the microblogging platform ranking on the first spot on iPhone. She also wrote in her post, "good job Brazil, you made the right choice". The massive surge of people on BlueSky happened when Brazil banned X for being reluctant to block some users' accounts. 

In May 2024, the report said the microblogging platform had around 6 million users. BlueSky is among the few apps offering users an X-like microblogging experience. Meta's Threads, Tumblr, Weibo (China), and Koo (shut down now) have been some of the popular platforms in the same category. 

While X is banned from Brazil and prohibited from accessing using a VPN, competitors have significantly benefited from these platforms. Brazil SC judge Alexandre de Moraes already warned that X would be banned in the country if the company failed to name a representative. Brazil President Lula, who defended Judge Moraes' decision to block X from the country, suggested a list of platforms to go to besides X. Alexandre Files: Elon Musk’s X Creates Separate Account To Expose Brazil Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, Lists Unlawful Decisions.

The President of Brazil, Lula, preferred BlueSky as the first app on the list, then listed other social media and microblogging platforms to follow him. It included Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, TikTok and Facebook. 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 01, 2024 05:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).