Mark Cuban says Bluesky's echo chamber is hurting engagement — and boosting Elon Musk's X
Mark Cuban criticized Bluesky for becoming an echo chamber, warning it was driving some users away.
Engagement on Bluesky has plunged since February, with far fewer daily unique users.
Cuban questioned BlueSky's future, citing vanishing nuance and an absence of some topics.
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
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Musk regrets some of his Trump criticisms, says they 'went too far'
Musk regrets some of his Trump criticisms, says they 'went too far' Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Donald Trump's former advisor, says he regretted some of his recent criticisms of the US president (Kevin Dietsch) (Kevin Dietsch/GETTY IMAGESvia AFP) Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Donald Trump's former advisor, said Wednesday he regretted some of his recent criticisms of the US president, after the pair's public falling-out last week. "I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far," Musk wrote on his social media platform X, in a message that was received favorably by the White House. Musk's expression of regret came just days after Trump threatened the tech billionaire with "serious consequences" if he sought to punish Republicans who vote for a controversial spending bill. Their blistering break-up -- largely carried out on social media before a riveted public since Thursday last week -- was ignited by Musk's harsh criticism of Trump's so-called "big, beautiful" spending bill, which is currently before Congress. ADVERTISEMENT Some lawmakers who were against the bill had called on Musk -- one of the Republican Party's biggest financial backers in last year's presidential election -- to fund primary challenges against Republicans who voted for the legislation. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," Trump, who also branded Musk "disrespectful," told NBC News on Saturday, without specifying what those consequences would be. Trump also said he had "no" desire to repair his relationship with the South African-born Tesla and SpaceX chief, and that he has "no intention of speaking to him." But after Musk's expression of regret, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump was "appreciative," adding that "no efforts" had been made on a threat by Trump to end some of Musk's government contracts. "The president acknowledged the statement that Elon put out this morning, and he is appreciative of it," Leavitt said. ADVERTISEMENT According to the New York Times, Musk's message followed a phone call to Trump late on Monday night. Vice President JD Vance and Chief of Staff Susan Wiles had also been working with Musk on how to broker a truce with Trump, the report said. - 'Wish him well' - In his post on Wednesday, Musk did not specify which of his criticisms of Trump had gone "too far." The former allies had seemed to have cut ties amicably about two weeks ago, with Trump giving Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But their relationship cracked within days, with Musk describing the spending bill as an "abomination" that, if passed by Congress, could define Trump's second term in office. Trump hit back at Musk's comments in an Oval Office diatribe and from there the row detonated, leaving Washington stunned. ADVERTISEMENT Trump later said on his Truth Social platform that cutting billions of dollars in subsidies and contracts to Musk's companies would be the "easiest way" to save the US government money. US media have put the value of the contracts at $18 billion. With real political and economic risks to their falling out, both already appeared to inch back from the brink on Friday, with Trump telling reporters "I just wish him well," and Musk responding on X: "Likewise." Trump had spoken to NBC on Saturday after Musk deleted one of the explosive allegations he had made during their fallout, linking the president with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking. bur-arp/aha


The Hill
25 minutes ago
- The Hill
Bessent says report he called Musk ‘a fraud' is ‘fake news'
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addressed his reported clashes with Elon Musk during a congressional hearing on Wednesday, rejecting claims that he called Musk a 'fraud' as 'fake news.' After Musk's explosive fallout with President Trump last week, longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon told The Washington Post that the tech billionaire and Bessent had a physical altercation, which the White House denied, and that Bessent called Musk 'a total fraud' in a heated exchange about the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)'s efforts to cut government spending. Bannon helmed the conservative outlet Breitbart News for several years until his ouster from the site in 2018, following a brief stint in Trump's first administration. 'I know Elon Musk body checked you at the White House,' Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) said to Bessent during Ways & Means hearing on the Treasury Department. 'You know that?' Bessent shot back. 'You believe what you read on Breitbart, that's what you are telling this Congress.' Coincidentally, Bessent recently quoted a Breitbart article on the social platform X in response to mass protests in Los Angeles against Trump's immigration crackdown. Gomez continued in the hearing, 'If it's too sensitive for you, I won't ask that question,' prompting a retort from the South Carolina native with an apparent strike at South African-born Musk. 'I'll take South Carolina over South Africa any day,' Bessent said. Trump confirmed that Musk and Bessent had 'a little bit of a shouting match' but denied it turned violent. 'They did have an argument, but I didn't see a lot of physicality there,' the president told reporters at the White House on Monday.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla robotaxi rollout in Austin tests Musk's vision of self-driving future
By Chris Kirkham (Reuters) -Tesla faces an existential test this month as it aims to launch self-driving 'robotaxis' in its home base of Austin, Texas, where public-safety officials are increasingly concerned about the state's anti-regulation stance toward autonomous vehicles. For Tesla, the launch of between 10 and 20 Model Y vehicles follows a decade of unfulfilled promises of self-driving vehicles from CEO Elon Musk, who last year staked the company's future on such technology as it pivoted away from chasing rapid growth in electric-vehicle sales. The Austin robotaxi launch, which Musk says will "tentatively" open to the public on June 22, comes as Tesla tries to arrest a global vehicle-sales slide, stemming from both its aging lineup of human-driven electric vehicles and Musk's right-wing political activities. Some analysts and investors attribute the majority of Tesla's stock market value to hopes for robotaxis and humanoid robots it has yet to deliver. On an earnings call last year, Musk said investors "should sell their Tesla stock" if they did not believe the company would solve the technological challenges of driverless vehicles. For the city of Austin, Tesla's launch adds anxiety to a regulation-free landscape for autonomous vehicles. The Texas legislature in 2017 prohibited cities from regulating autonomous vehicles as a way to promote the industry's growth statewide. Now, as the vehicles proliferate, some politicians, public-safety officials and advocates are pushing for more rules. Austin police officers continually have run into problems with autonomous vehicles from Alphabet's Waymo and General Motors' now-defunct Cruise freezing up when they encounter complex traffic situations, such as festivals where officers direct traffic with hand signals, said Austin Police Lieutenant William White. Vehicles have disregarded traffic barriers and driven into prohibited areas, he said. 'It's been very frustrating on our end from a safety standpoint,' said White, who oversees autonomous-vehicle safety for the department. 'If these machines are learning, they're not learning at a quick enough pace for sure.' Waymo said it works closely with Austin officials and is always looking to improve the technology. The Texas legislature passed a bill last month that for the first time would require autonomous-vehicle companies to apply for authorization to operate in the state, and give state authorities the power to revoke permits if a driverless vehicle "endangers the public." Firms are also required to provide the state information on how police and first responders can deal with the vehicles in emergency situations. If the bill is signed by the governor, it is unclear when the new system would take effect, but likely not until next year, according to a state Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson. UNANSWERED QUESTIONS Musk and Tesla have given few details about their plans for the Austin robotaxi launch. Among the key questions is whether the cars will include new sensors or other technology that differs from the currently offered "Full Self-Driving" feature, which is not autonomous. In a post on his X social media platform on Tuesday, Musk described the driverless Austin vehicles as "unmodified Tesla cars" using a "new version of software." In January, Musk said Tesla would be offering 'autonomous ride-hailing for money in Austin, in June,' followed by other American cities 'as swiftly as possible.' He has described Tesla's approach as one that 'works anywhere.' In April, he said the Austin rollout would begin with 10 or 20 Model Y vehicles, and that the company would 'scale it up rapidly after that' to be in 'many other cities in the U.S.' by the end of the year. He predicted there would be 'millions of Teslas' operating 'fully autonomously' by the second half of next year. Musk's statements in recent weeks have been more cautious. On CNBC last month, he said that when Tesla deploys robotaxis in Austin, the company will 'geofence' the vehicles and operate in 'only the parts of Austin that we consider to be the safest.' He said company staff would remotely monitor the vehicles. 'We're going to be extremely paranoid about the deployment, as we should be,' he said. Musk and Tesla have not said who the passengers will be, how Tesla will charge for rides, where in Austin they will operate or how extensive the remote operation will be. Rivals have started testing with their own employees and a limited number of passengers before opening the services to anyone. In a post on X on Tuesday night, Musk said public rides would begin "tentatively, June 22," adding "the date could shift." One video that surfaced on social media on Tuesday, which Musk reposted, showed a Model Y with the word 'Robotaxi' driving on a street in Austin with no human driver, followed closely by a second Tesla vehicle. In a May 28 post on X, Musk said the company had recently started testing 'self-driving' vehicles on Austin public streets with 'no one in driver's seat.' Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Tesla advertisements for 'teleoperation' positions say the company needs the ability to 'access and control" autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots remotely, adding that such employees can 'remotely perform complex and intricate tasks.' The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration inquired last month about many of the unanswered questions surrounding the Austin rollout. The agency, which is investigating Tesla's FSD driver-assistance feature after a fatal crash in 2023, sent a detailed request seeking information about safety features, Tesla's timetable for expansion, where exactly it will be operating the vehicles and how it is preparing for accidents and emergency scenarios. The responses are due next week. A person familiar with NHTSA's operations said the agency sent the letter because it already has concerns about Tesla's current FSD technology, which it sells to customers for $99 a month, and it fears that Tesla's Austin rollout may not be safe. The Texas attorney general is considering a Reuters request for communications between Tesla and city officials in Austin over the past two years, which Tesla has opposed over trade secrets concerns. Austin's Department of Transportation and Public Works declined to discuss Tesla's operations. A person familiar with Austin's autonomous-vehicle policies said the city has been meeting regularly with Tesla since December and that the company has shared some deployment plans with the city. Safety experts say there has been a dearth of information about Tesla's technology. Phil Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor and autonomous-vehicle safety expert, said Musk's statements 'leave room for ambiguity' about its plans in Austin and the sophistication of its robotaxi technology. 'When you start to pin it down, it's like jello,' he said. He questioned whether Tesla would be ready for a rapid nationwide rollout soon. 'Having 10 cars on the road and not having a crash,' Koopman said, 'is sort of table stakes for this game.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data