Kalakshar US

TikTok might be (sort of) back for now, but that’s not stopping other social media platforms from trying to horn in on its business. Bluesky is the latest, introducing a TikTok-like vertical video feature on mobile called Trending Videos, now available in the explore tab, the company announced in a post on its app. 

“We had to get in on the video action too — Bluesky now has custom feeds for video! Like any other feed, you can choose to pin these [to your home screen] or not. Bluesky is yours to customize,” the company wrote. 

I was able to access the feature on my Android phone by tapping “Search.” In that screen, the Trending Videos (Beta)” section appeared prominently, and hitting “View more” brought up a number of short videos (many imported from TikTok). Swiping up brings up a succession of new videos à la TikTok, though Bluesky didn’t say what algorithm it uses to suggest them. If you don’t see the feature at first, just restart the app, Bluesky suggests. 

In the same thread, the company shouted out other developers building TikTok rivals using the same AT Protocol used by Bluesky (Tik, Skylight, Bluescreen), most of which are still in closed testing. 

X introduced its own vertical video feature almost simultaneously, as it also seeks to profit from TikTok’s removal from US app stores. “An immersive new home for videos is rolling out to users in the US today,” the platform announced in a post. Also announced in the last day or so is Edits, an Instagram video editing tool designed to challenge TikTok’s CapCut. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-created-its-own-tiktok-like-feature-called-trending-videos-130056093.html?src=rss 

Bluesky experienced explosive growth last year, particularly toward the end, necessitating that the platform ramp up its moderation efforts. In its recently released moderation report for 2024, Bluesky said it grew by about 23 million users, jumping from 2.9 million users to nearly 26 million. And, its moderators received 17 times the number of user reports they got in 2023 — 6.48 million in 2024 compared to 358,000 the previous year. 

The bulk of these reports were related to “harassment, trolling or intolerance,” spam and misleading content (including impersonation and misinformation). The presence of accounts posing as other people has been a known issue in the wake of Bluesky’s popularity spike, and the platform updated its impersonation policy in November with a “more aggressive” approach in an attempt to crack down on it. At the time, it said it had quadrupled its moderation team. The new report says Bluesky’s moderation team has grown to about 100, and hiring is ongoing. “Some moderators specialize in particular policy areas, such as dedicated agents for child safety,” it notes.

Other categories Bluesky says it received a lot of reports about include “illegal and urgent issues” and unwanted sexual content. There were also 726,000 reports marked as “other.” Bluesky says it complied with 146 requests from “law enforcement, governments, legal firms” out of a total of 238 last year.

The platform plans on making some changes to the way reports and appeals are handled this year that it says will “streamline user communication,” like providing users with updates about actions it has taken on content they’ve reported and, further down the line, letting users appeal takedown decisions directly in the app. Moderators took down 66,308 accounts in 2024, while its automated systems took down 35,842 spam and bot profiles. “Looking ahead to 2025, we’re investing in stronger proactive detection systems to complement user reporting, as a growing network needs multiple detection methods to rapidly identify and address harmful content,” Bluesky says. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/blueskys-2024-moderation-report-shows-how-quickly-harmful-content-grew-as-new-users-flocked-in-000149354.html?src=rss