Bluesky is breaking the rules in the EU

The European Union says Twitter alternative Bluesky violates the EU Digital Services Act rules around information disclosure, reports Reuters. But since Bluesky isn’t yet big enough to be considered a “very large online platform” under the DSA, the regulator says it can’t regulate Bluesky the way it does X or Threads.

The Financial Times quotes European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier, who told reporters about the violation during a Monday press briefing:

“All platforms in the EU . . . have to have a dedicated page on their website where it says how many users they have in the EU and where they are legally established,” said commission spokesman Thomas Regnier. “This is not the case for Bluesky as of today. This is not followed.”

Regnier reportedly went on to say that the commission has asked the EU’s 27 national governments to look for “any trace of Bluesky” like EU-based offices. The regulator hasn’t reached out to Bluesky directly, yet, The Financial Times writes. Bluesky didn’t immediately reply to The Verge’s request for comment.

The DSA is designed to hold platforms legally responsible for content posted to them, but with fewer than 45 million users, Bluesky isn’t big enough yet to qualify for its very large online platform label. Booming signups in the wake of the US Presidential election drove its user count to 15 million users 10 days ago, and it’s now at 22.5 million users, according to a stat-tracking site put together by one of the platform’s developers. Its continued growth could put it at odds with EU regulators soon enough.