User ban controversy reveals Bluesky’s decentralized aspiration isn’t reality

Decentralization vs. Centralization in Bluesky

• Many see a pattern: “decentralized” systems drift back to centralization once moderation and scale become real problems.
• Bluesky’s AT Protocol promises user-owned identities and portable data (PDS), but in practice a single AppView and firehose give Bluesky Inc de facto control.
• Being banned from the main AppView means practical exclusion from the network, and third‑party app views are either nonexistent or not viable at scale yet.
• This is compared to Web3/NFTs: technically decentralized, but functionally gated by dominant platforms.

Moderation Models, Blocklists, and Federation

• Debate over whether you can have global connectivity and truly local moderation: either you centralize moderation or you create huge burdens for local moderators.
• Examples from Matrix and others show “decentralized” public blocklists can effectively re‑centralize power when widely adopted.
• Supporters of federation point to adblock lists and Mastodon/email: many independent nodes, shared but optional lists, and the ability to move or self‑host as a safety valve.

The Singal Controversy and Rule Enforcement

• One core flashpoint is Bluesky’s handling of a controversial journalist.
• One side claims he hasn’t broken ToS and that demands for a ban are ideological purity tests; users can already block him or subscribe to blocklists.
• Others argue he clearly violated earlier ToS (off‑platform doxxing, block evasion), and that Bluesky retroactively changed policies or applied them unevenly for a favored user.
• This is cited as evidence Bluesky is centralized and unaccountable, despite “community moderation” rhetoric.

Culture, Politics, and “Speech as Violence”

• Some users want figures like the U.S. vice president banned, seeing allowing them on-platform as complicity in harm; others see this as political denialism that builds echo chambers and neuters persuasion.
• Ongoing argument over whether harmful speech is akin to violence and whether deplatforming actually reduces influence or fuels backlash.
• Commenters note a “purity” culture on Bluesky’s dominant left-leaning user base (e.g., intense policing of views, personal choices, and AI usage), which both attracts some and drives others away.

Broader Skepticism About Social Media

• Several argue the real problem isn’t protocol design but the feed‑based, engagement‑driven social media format itself: outrage incentives, ragebait, reply spam, and partisan harassment.
• Some pin hopes on better client-side filters and community moderation; others conclude that, at scale, any such platform becomes toxic regardless of its decentralization story.