Starmer not joining the Bluesky social media platform ‘at the moment’
21 November 2024, 09:49
The Prime Minister said there are no plans to establish official Government accounts yet.
Sir Keir Starmer has said he has “no plans” to join the Bluesky social media platform.
The Prime Minister told reporters that “at the moment” there are no plans to establish official Government accounts or a personal one in his name.
He said it is “important for a government” to be able to communicate with “as many people as possible”.
The number of users on the site has surged in recent weeks, with the official Bluesky account announcing earlier this week that the platform had passed 19 million users.
Asked whether he had any plans to join Bluesky personally, or for Government departments to open official accounts, Sir Keir told reporters: “No plans at the moment, we’re obviously still using Twitter.”
He added: “What’s important for a government is that we’re able to reach as many people and communicate with as many people as possible and that’s the sole test for any of this as far as I’m concerned.”
He made the comments to journalists who attended the G20 summit in Brazil.
Bluesky was developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey in 2019 but user numbers have surged in recent months, with around one million accounts signing up in the week following Donald Trump’s re-election as US president. Mr Dorsey stepped down from the board in May 2024.
Twitter was bought by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, in 2022 and renamed X, but both the platform and the billionaire businessman have faced increased scrutiny since the takeover, prompting several high-profile account-holders to leave.
Mr Musk championed the Trump presidential bid and has been named co-head of the new administration’s department of government efficiency.
Several MPs have joined Bluesky, with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Treasury minister Darren Jones and local government minister Jim McMahon among those setting up accounts.
