Mark Cuban says Bluesky's echo chamber is hurting engagement — and boosting Elon Musk's X
Mark Cuban is sounding the alarm on Bluesky's declining engagement — and he's not pulling his punches.
In a series of Bluesky posts, the billionaire investor and entrepreneur criticized the platform for fostering an echo chamber that he said was driving users away and inadvertently boosting traffic back to Elon Musk 's X.
"The lack of diversity of thought here is really hurting usage," Cuban wrote, linking to a Washington Post opinion piece headlined "BlueSky's decline stems from never hearing from the other side."
Once known for "great give-and-take discussions on politics and news," Cuban said Bluesky had become a monoculture where dissent was unwelcome and nuance was vanishing.
"Engagement went from great convos on many topics, to 'agree with me or you are a Nazi fascist,'" he posted.
A graph of Bluesky's unique daily posters supports his concern.
On February 28, Bluesky had more than 1 million unique users daily. Since then, engagement has plummeted, with June 7 and 8 hovering well below that peak at about 670,000 daily posters.
The Musk factor
BlueSky's rise accelerated following the election of President Donald Trump, whom CEO Musk backed financially, and after X introduced new terms of service.
Many X users migrated to Bluesky, with some 2.5 million joining in one week in November.
Some were seeking a friendlier, more open platform with less hate speech and misinformation, and more control over what content is shown in their feeds.
A startup, BlueArk, even sprang up to help users migrate their X/Twitter histories to Bluesky, porting over millions of posts and creating the illusion of continuity on a new platform.
At the time, Cuban told Business Insider he preferred Bluesky over alternatives due to its variety of content and growing engagement.
Now, some of the earliest and most visible converts, including Cuban, are questioning whether the migration created a new community, or just repackaged the same silos.
"Why would anyone stop using Twitter if the only topic that is acceptable to you is news and politics?" he asked.
Cuban also criticized the platform's culture, saying: "The replies on here may not be as racist as Twitter, but they damn sure are hateful."
Posts about AI, business, or healthcare — traditionally strong areas for Cuban — often gain little traction or were met with outright hostility, he added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Responds To Gavin Newsom's Dare To Arrest Him, Says He 'Would Do It' If He Were The Border Czar
Donald Trump responded to California Governor Gavin Newsom's dare to administration officials to arrest him, with the president suggesting that he would support such a move by his border czar, Tom Homan. 'I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great,' Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. 'Gavin likes the publicity … but he's done a terrible job. I like Gavin Newsom. He's a nice guy, but he's grossly incompetent. Everybody knows.' More from Deadline Australian Reporter Lauren Tomasi Hit By Rubber Bullet In Dramatic Footage From L.A. Protests Angry Newsom Challenges Trump Administration To "Arrest Me" As Conflict Grows In L.A. - Updated John Oliver Likens Trump-Musk Feud To 'Real Housewives': "If Either Of Them Isn't The Center Of Attention For A Single Second, They'll Die" On Saturday, Homan threatened the arrest of even public officials who tried to obstruct immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles. With protests unfolding over the weekend, Trump ordered the National Guard to the city, in what Newsom and others said was an overreaction that would inflame the situation. As protests continued on Sunday, with scenes of some burning vehicles playing on cable TV and law enforcement trying to quell the demonstration. Disbursement non-lethal shots, flash bangs, and gas canisters were heard being fired over the crowd by the cops. Newsom was asked by NBC News and MSNBC's Jacob Soboroff about Homan's comments, and told him, 'Come after me. Arrest me.' 'Why doesn't he do that? He's a tough guy. He knows where to find me.' Trump claimed in a Truth Social post this morning that had they not called in the National Guard, 'Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.' But a number of media commentators have noted the relative calm in the sprawling region throughout the weekend, which included the LA Pride parade and festivities. Newsom has expressed alarm by Trump's move to federalize the guard. The president's order was not specific to Los Angeles, and it has generated warnings that it could open the door to future efforts by the administration to curb protests. 'They are trying to incite violence,' Newsom said. 'They are trying to impose the kind of rhetoric that only makes conditions worse.' 'This is about authoritarian tendencies. This is about command and control. This is about ego,' Newsom said. Newsom also said that the state is planning to sue the administration, as he was not consulted on the National Guard decision. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery Tony Awards: Every Best Musical Winner Since 1949 Tony Awards: Every Best Play Winner Since 1947
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
What the Trump-Musk Feud Means for SpaceX and NASA
Musk and Trump before the feud, at the test launch of a Starship rocket in Nov. 2024 Credit - Getty Images What happens in Washington decidedly does not stay in Washington, with practically every action taken by the richest and most powerful country in the world having a near-immediate global reaction—on tariffs, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, global health, and more. Sometimes those reactions aren't even confined to the planet—as the recent social-media smackdown between President Donald Trump and former adviser Elon Musk illustrated. On June 5, as the feud between the two erstwhile besties escalated, Trump posted on his Truth Social Platform, 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Just over 90 minutes later, in a post on X, Musk clapped back: 'In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.' Not long after that post went wide, Musk quietly deleted it. Later that evening, an X user posted to Trump and Musk, 'This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days.' Minutes later, Musk responded, 'Good advice. OK, we won't decommission Dragon.' Read more: The Musk-Trump Implosion Can Be Seen From Space That defused the immediate emergency, but the threat and counterthreat raised questions about just how dependent America's space efforts are on the whims of two sometimes mercurial billionaires. Could a mere word from Musk ground the nation? Could a stroke of a Trump Sharpie similarly hobble SpaceX? The short answer in both cases is maybe, but not likely. There's no overstating just how central SpaceX has become in the space sector in the 23 years since it was founded as the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. Since the inaugural flight of the company's Falcon 9 in 2010, the rocket has become the world's workhorse vehicle for rides to orbit, with 485 completed missions, including 440 acrobatic landings of its reusable first stage. The rocket and its Dragon spacecraft provide regular service to the International Space Station (ISS), carrying crews up and down, and ferrying cargo and supplies aboard uncrewed Dragons. In 2024, the company's larger Falcon Heavy launched NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa. It is set to launch the ambitious Nancy Grace Roman Telescope in May 2027. The working relationship between SpaceX and the government is by no means limited to NASA. In April, as Ars Technica reports, the U.S. Space Force awarded the company a $5.9 billion contract, making SpaceX the leading provider of launch services for Pentagon satellites. The military is also a major customer of SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation, with 50 military commands now using the orbiting Internet service, according to Defense News. 'We have $22 billion in government contracts,' said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president and COO, in a live streamed public panel last year. 'We earned that. We bid it, we were the lowest price, best bidder, we won and we execute.' If anything, the company is going to have the opportunity to execute still more, reinforcing the ties between SpaceX and the government. In 2021, NASA selected SpaceX's still-in-development Starship rocket to serve as the lander that is planned to carry American astronauts down from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon sometime before the end of the decade. In 2024, the space agency tapped SpaceX to build the vehicle that will nudge the ISS out of orbit when the program ends in 2030. And in May, Trump's so-called skinny budget called for NASA to cancel its over-budget and behind-schedule Space Launch System, the 21st century answer to the 1960s' Saturn V moon rocket, leaving Starship as the likeliest successor. Meantime, while Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was supposed to be joining Dragon in providing rides to the ISS—taking a share of the launch business revenue from SpaceX—Starliner famously failed in its inaugural flight last year. This left astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stranded aboard the station for 8 months, on a mission that was supposed to last merely eight days. Similarly, Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Musk's fellow mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos, was expected to provide some launch-service competition for SpaceX, but the company has managed just one, only partially successful orbital launch of its New Glenn rocket, in January 2025, and has limited most of its activity to flying popgun suborbital missions for wealthy space tourists. 'It's not a planned monopoly,' said Shotwell in the live stream. 'If our competitors could get it together…' All of this leaves SpaceX and the government mutually interdependent, with Washington counting on the company to provide services no one else currently can, and the company happy for the paying work. That's not to say neither one could foul the joint nest. Trump's nomination of private astronaut and Musk friend Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator was widely seen as a sign of Musk's influence on the president—and Trump's decision on May 31 to pull the nomination was similarly seen as the first sign of the rift between Musk and Trump. But the president has made no other moves against Musk-world, and Musk's decision to delete his provocative post on X may have cooled tempers on both sides. SpaceX investors and other customers may serve as a brake on Musk's worst tendencies, and lawmakers from space-heavy states including California, Texas, and Florida may similarly restrain Trump. None of this says that neither man is beyond acting against his own—and his government's or his company's—best interests. The scorpion in the venerable fable famously stung the frog that was its only ride across the river—explaining before they both sank and drowned that 'it's in my nature.' Trump's and Musk's natures have always been impulsive. The space and defense sectors can only hope the two men show some restraint now. Write to Jeffrey Kluger at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
LA protests inch Elon Musk back to President Trump
Last week, Elon Musk was calling for President Donald Trump's impeachment. This week, Musk is back to praising the administration, softening his tone after the two powerful leaders' very public breakup. The whiplash came as protests erupted in Los Angeles over actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and immigration raids. Over the weekend, Musk deleted some of his most incendiary X posts about the president, including the call for his impeachment and the allegation, without providing evidence, that Trump's name appeared in documents related to the crimes of convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Musk appeared to wholeheartedly support the Trump administration's stance on the situation in Los Angeles, adding American Flags to a post from Vice President JD Vance about how the 'president will not tolerate rioting and violence.' Musk has long supported closed borders, stopping illegal immigration and deportations, in alignment with the Trump administration. The tech billionaire posted a screenshot of a Truth Social post from Trump that said California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass 'should apologize to the people of Los Angeles,' as clashes have broken out, cars have been set on fire and demonstrations intensify. He also wrote 'cool' to a video of Vance speaking in an interview, saying he thinks 'if Elon chills out a little bit everything will be fine.' And the Tesla CEO re-followed White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, considered one of the lead Trump administration officials on immigration policy, whom he had unfollowed on Thursday in the midst of his blow up with Trump. The move was especially notable considering Miller's wife, Katie Miller, had recently left the White House to work with Musk full time and the couple had regularly socialized with Musk outside of work. That lead to gossip among White House aides and rounds of speculation about how the fallout could impact the political fortunes of one of the most powerful couples in Trump's Washington. Katie Miller did not respond to a request for comment. Musk at one point fact checked his own AI chatbot Grok, which appeared to confirm as authentic a viral image that seemingly showed Musk writing a post that appeared to say 'Just like I took your wife' in response to Miller. 'No, it's fake ffs 🤦♂️ I never posted this,' Musk wrote in response to Grok. That doesn't mean it was all back to positive vibes from Musk this weekend. He continued to speak out – albeit in a more subtle manner – against Trump's domestic policy bill that passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate. On Sunday Musk replied 'Correct' to a user who wrote 'Musk's fight with Trump is neither a stunt nor distraction.' The same day he also reposted an article from the satirical site The Babylon Bee, titled 'Republicans Announce Plan To Keep Doing Opposite Of What Everyone Voted For Them To Do.' Musk had blasted the president's sweeping 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill' last week, arguing it would undermine much of what his Department of Government Efficiency team had done to cut federal spending and the deficit. The Trump administration had denied that the bill would add to the deficit, despite numerous nonpartisan organizations saying it would add trillions of dollars to America's debt. But Wall Street analysts are so far breathing slightly easier – as they hope whatever delicate détente holds out. 'While we do not expect Trump and Musk to be back to their Mar-a-Lago connected at the hip days, it would not be a surprise to see Trump and Musk slowly mend the fences (with the help of intermediaries behind closed doors) over the coming months,' wrote WedBush analyst Dan Ives. '[A]t the end of the day Trump needs Musk to stay close to the Republican party and Musk needs Trump for many reasons including a green light on a federal framework for autonomous [vehicles].' Tesla's stock has recovered somewhat but still remains well below where it started Thursday before the public breakup.
