The FSF is now on Bluesky

The Bluesky developers have taken steps to improve upon microblogging services like X (Twitter), but there continue to be some issues with its clients and governance structure. If you're considering joining, we recommend keeping these points in mind:

JavaScript: When signing up for Bluesky, like with many other websites or services, you must use nonfree JavaScript, which violates your user rights. No matter what operating system you run, even a free one like GNU/Linux, the vast majority of sites online will serve up and download proprietary programs without asking or telling you -- all in the form of nonfree JavaScript.

Federated, but: While federated, Bluesky is generally not considered part of the "fediverse" network of social media services like Mastodon and PeerTube, as it uses its own AT protocol rather than ActivityPub. Bluesky itself is the chief arbiter of how AT Protocol is defined, something which we've seen used against free communities of users time and time again. Hosting your own Bluesky "Personal Data Server (PDS)" and relay is technically possible, but generally far more difficult and resource-intensive than spinning up an instance of Mastodon, let alone any of the lighter-weight ActivityPub servers like Akkoma or Starling.

Free software codebase, but: Much of the Bluesky codebase is freely licensed. This allows users to run, copy, modify, and share large parts of the codebase. However, Bluesky's web client still serves nonfree JavaScript to users, just like its registration page. (Since our script was written for us specifically, we have not extensively vetted all available clients.)

Simply put, we have to continue to reach people where they are. Bluesky is a decent choice for us that evades many of the issues of other, more problematic networks. Without reaching people who don't already know about us, we unfortunately have very little chance of achieving our mission and educating new people about the free software philosophy. We accepted running Bluesky's nonfree JavaScript a single time if it meant being able to reach people who have never heard of software freedom.

If you are on Bluesky, give us a follow for free software news and events. If you know other people who care about freedom and human rights, even if they don't know anything yet about free software, suggest our microblogging accounts. We say it pretty often because it's true: the more people who know about free software and why it's important, the closer we get to a world where every single person has the freedom to control their computing.

"The FSF is on Bluesky" © 2026 by FSF. This photo is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

The nonfree javascript on Bluesky's signup page is a problem. Take action today and contact Bluesky about accessing the platform in freedom.