Bluesky, the decentralized social media platform often described as an X alternative, is experiencing a widespread outage Tuesday morning. Reports began around 6 a.m. ET, with over 1,000 users logging issues on Downdetector.

What is Bluesky?

Bluesky is a decentralized social media platform developed as an alternative to Twitter (now X), with a focus on transparency, user control, and open-source protocols. Backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Bluesky has positioned itself as a free-speech-friendly and algorithm-optional network. Its invitation-only model helped generate early buzz, particularly among users seeking a less chaotic or algorithm-driven social feed.

Why it matters

As competition among X alternatives intensifies, outages like this risk undermining trust in platforms still trying to scale and differentiate themselves. Bluesky’s performance and reliability are key to its ability to challenge its mainstream rivals.

As of today, Bluesky has over 35 million registered users worldwide.

Bluesky users report widespread outages Tuesday morning, with issues affecting both the website and app globally. Bluesky users report widespread outages Tuesday morning, with issues affecting both the website and app globally.

What to know

The platform’s website and app appear to be affected, with users unable to load timelines or post updates. The outage appears to be global.

One user wrote, “Website failed to load, seen this happen around midnight (UK) a few weeks ago as well.”

Bluesky has yet to issue a public statement. Newsweek has contacted the platform for comment and will update this story as it develops.