U.S. Vice President JD Vance has joined the Twitter rival Bluesky, urging his more than four million followers on X to follow him to the alternative platform. But his welcome was cut short when his account was briefly suspended.
Vance announced the move on Wednesday, June 18, sharing screenshots of his Bluesky debut on X. “Just set up my page on @bluesky, hope to see you guys there!” he wrote.
“Hello Bluesky,” read his first post. “I’ve been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis. I’m thrilled to be here to engage with all of you.”
Shortly after, his account was taken offline. One Bluesky user mocked the suspension as the “quickest block ever.” The platform—favored by progressives—later confirmed that its automated systems had flagged Vance’s account as a potential impersonation.
“Vice President Vance’s account was briefly flagged by our automated systems that try to detect impersonation attempts which have targeted public figures like him in the past,” a Bluesky spokesperson told Newsweek. “The account was quickly restored and verified so people can easily confirm its authenticity.”
Vance, who quickly gained over 6,000 followers on the new platform, also used the opportunity to praise Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s recent concurring opinion supporting bans on transgender medical treatment for minors, calling it “quite illuminating.” The post came after the Court upheld a Tennessee law banning so-called gender-affirming care for youth—a key issue in the American culture wars.
While Bluesky and X have not released official user numbers, industry estimates suggest X has around 600 million active users, compared to approximately 30 million on Bluesky.
