Remember those scenes in Gene Wilder’s performance as Willy Wonka in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” where the titular character blandly makes a clearly insincere attempt to convince those devil children not to do something dangerous?
“Stop. Don’t. Come back,” he deadpanned.
That’s pretty much how I feel when I see leftists on social media proudly declaring their intention to leave Elon Musk’s X for a supposedly up-and-coming digital platform called Bluesky.
Several celebrities and media figures have announced their departure, including actresses Gabrielle Union and Jamie Lee Curtis, along with singer Barbra Streisand and author Stephen King. Their announcements were met with a collective yawn from other users who had better things to do than listen to these people.
Yet, this hasn’t stopped media leftists from celebrating what they hope will be a mass exodus that will cause devastating harm to conservatives and libertarians who have embraced X as a way to participate in political discourse.
Author Ali Breland penned a copium-filled diatribe in The Atlantic in which he claims, “The Right Has a Bluesky Problem.” The article examines the growing movement of users from X to other platforms like Bluesky after President-elect Donald Trump trounced his Democratic opponent in the 2024 election.
In the piece, Breland notes that “The week after the election corresponded with the biggest spike in account deactivations on X since Musk’s takeover of the site” and celebrates that Bluesky “has added about 10 million new accounts since October.”
The author indicates that there has been a “shift” in how people perceive the platform, which was formerly known as Twitter.
Twitter’s value proposition was that relatively influential people talked to each other on it. In theory, you could log on to Twitter and see a country singer rib a cable-news anchor, billionaires bloviate, artists talk about media theory, historians get into vicious arguments, and celebrities share vaguely interesting minutiae about their lives.
He then makes the contention that “As each wave departs X, the site gradually becomes less valuable to those who stay, prompting a cycle that slowly but surely diminishes X’s relevance.”
Related: The Babylon Bee's Foray Into Bluesky Gets Started off on Hilariously Predictable Note
The Left's Emotional Support Social Media Site Bluesky Is Going About As Well As You Might Expect
Let's Consider the Self-Deleting Journalists Who Quit Elon Musk’s X Platform After Election
Breland also explored how the presence of leftists on X has benefitted users on the right because they provide a worthy foil. “The right needs liberals on X. If the platform becomes akin to ‘alt-tech platforms’ such as Gab or Truth Social, this shift would be good for people on the right who want their politics to be affirmed,” he writes.
Conversely, the author argues that “Liberals and the left do not need the right to be online in the way that the right needs liberals and the left.”
Apparently, Breland doesn’t pay much attention to left-wing X, which often uses posts from right-wingers to whine about how racist/sexist/transphobic we are. Leftists feed on the right just as much as the right feeds on the left – at least on X.
The reason right-wing politicians and influencers such as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nick Fuentes, and Candace Owens keep posting on it instead of on conservative platforms is because they want what [Christopher] Rufo wants: a chance to push their perspectives into the mainstream.
Breland goes on to predict that as X morphs into a right-wing echo chamber, its ability to shape opinions beyond its base will dissipate and become like other conservative social media platforms that do not have as much reach. “Normal people do not log on to Gab and Truth Social,” he points out.
This article was one of the most profound examples of wishcasting that I have seen from the left since Trump was reelected. The author’s ardent hope for X to tank was palpable in the piece.
But I believe he and his contemporaries on the left are in for some bitter disappointment. The truth is that leftists leaving X for Bluesky is like storming off to another room during an argument—sure, you feel empowered, but no one follows you there to listen. Leaving X will only push these people further into irrelevance because nobody except their fellow leftists will hear what they have to say. Apparently, nothing screams progress like a digital safe space that no one else cares about.
Yes, Bluesky has seen significant growth over the past month. But it does not have the critical mass of influential voices from across the political spectrum that X retains. By leaving X for Bluesky, leftist influencers will have decreased their reach, especially since many of their comrades have decided to remain on Elon Musk’s platform. At this point, Bluesky is set to become little more than a left-wing echo chamber, far more than X will ever be a right-wing echo chamber.
Moreover, Bluesky’s novelty and smaller scale means it won’t be able to match the cultural relevance and immediate influence that X provides. What’s the point of moving to a platform no one else frequents?
In the end, losing a million leftist users might cause a bit of damage to X, but not nearly as much as Breland hopes. The reality is that, at least for the time being, X is where people go to participate in political discourse, and this isn’t changing any time soon. But we can’t knock them for hoping, can we? Until then, I’ll just leave them with this:
