Bluesky Overhauls Guidelines: What Your Business Needs To Know

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Bluesky logo on a phone, held in front of a screen showing the Bluesky feed

With businesses leaving X, Bluesky has become a popular alternative for many and a serious competitor to other social media apps. Bluesky’s focus on the user experience, curated feeds, and Twitter-like format has seen the app gain millions of active users.

This week, Bluesky has announced revised community guidelines and policies in an effort to improve user safety and the complaints process.

What are the New Guidelines and Policies?

Bluesky shared its plans for the updated terms and policies on its blog:

“Since launching Bluesky two years ago, we’ve grown tremendously. As our community has expanded, feedback on our terms of service, community guidelines, copyright, and privacy policies has surfaced opportunities to improve clarity.”

What are these new changes?

Bluesky has proposed changes to its Community Guidelines, which will come into effect on October 15, 2025. These include:

  • A focus on four principles: Safety First, Respect Others, Be Authentic, and Follow the Rules
  • Clearer content guidelines to align with the US TAKE IT DOWN Act (specifically targeting deepfakes and non-consensual intimate images)
  • Improved enforcement of rules
  • Updated the appeals and redress process

Simply put, these revised guidelines aim to improve how Bluesky moderates harmful content, as well as how it punishes users who break the rules.

Bluesky has also updated its Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Copyright Policy. Changes to these policies come into effect on September 15, 2025.

Bluesky Wants Your Feedback

Bluesky’s Community Guidelines are open to feedback from the community. While Bluesky has made its proposal for what it wants to change, the platform wants to hear from businesses and users before the changes go live in October.

If you want to share your thoughts or have any suggestions for the Bluesky team, you can submit comments online.

You must leave feedback via the form before August 28.

Can Bluesky Compete With X and Meta?

As of August 2025, there are over 38 million users on Bluesky. For an app that launched to the public in 2024, Bluesky has been making real strides to compete with the more established social media channels.

Bluesky saw sign-ups surge during the recent US election, as well as the announcement of Elon Musk’s role in Trump’s administration – Bluesky is considered one of the best alternatives to X.

That said, Threads hit over 400 million monthly active users, so Bluesky still has a long way to go if it wants to play with the big kids.

Should You Update Your Social Media Strategy?

Your business shouldn’t be spreading hateful messages or inappropriate content on its Bluesky profile. With these new Community Guidelines and policy changes, it’s unlikely you’ll need to change your social media strategy.

But, read through the new wording and rules to make sure your existing or future posts follow the rules. These changes should help you create a more positive and safe online community space.

Of course, if you’re not already using Bluesky for your business, it could be worth exploring to increase your reach and foster positive relationships with customers.

Written by:
Headshot of Emma Ryan
Emma is Lead Writer at Website Builder Expert, having first joined the team in 2022. She manages the website's topical content strategy to help website owners navigate the highs and lows of being online. Emma also specializes in following the development of leading website builders Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify, through hands-on testing and research. Her work and expertise have been featured in Startups.co.uk, Digiday, TechRound, Industry Today, and Digital Information World.

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