Vice President JD Vance was temporarily suspended by BlueSky, a liberal social media platform, within the first hour of joining the site. The account was flagged by automated systems due to previous impersonation attempts, leading to a brief suspension that was quickly reversed within 20 minutes. BlueSky confirmed the reinstatement and added a verified badge to ensure authenticity.
BlueSky, a social media platform with a similar layout to X, has become a haven for many liberals leaving X after Elon Musk’s acquisition and subsequent changes. Despite its reputation as a liberal sanctuary, Vance set up a profile on BlueSky, making his first post at 4:50 p.m. In his initial post, he said: “Hello Bluesky, I’ve been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis. So I’m thrilled to be here to engage with all of you.”
Within his post, Vance embedded a screenshot of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in United States v. Skrmetti, which upheld a Tennessee law banning sex change surgeries on minors. Thomas’ concurrence listed several issues with those challenging the Tennessee law, including the lack of medical consensus on gender dysphoria treatment in children and the influence of ideology on medical guidance.
In his subsequent posts, Vance discussed the concurrence, stating: “To that end, I found Justice Thomas’s concurrence on medical care for transgender youth quite illuminating. He argues that many of our so-called ‘experts’ have used bad arguments and substandard science to push experimental therapies on our youth,” and “I might add that many of those scientists are receiving substantial resources from big pharma to push these medicines on kids. What do you think?” This prompted BlueSky to quickly suspend Vance’s account, which was shortly reinstated.
The incident sparked a firestorm of mockery from conservatives on X, with users highlighting the need for a free speech platform. Conservative accounts like Libs of TikTok commented: “Bluesky banned VP JD Vance 20 minutes after he joined the platform … The libs at Bluesky are so triggered.” Political commentator Eric Daugherty echoed this by saying, “OMG they banned him already.”
Meanwhile, some critics of Vance, including liberal reporter Billy Binion, condemned the suspension, stating: “I can’t stand JD Vance. But suspending the sitting vice president is exactly why Bluesky is unserious & doomed to fail.” Binion added, “If you claim to care about real debate, you can’t wall yourself off from everyone outside the progressive bubble—especially someone who might be president one day.”
This incident highlights the ongoing tensions and ideological divides in online discourse, especially on platforms like BlueSky and X. The suspension and swift reinstatement of Vance’s account have become a focal point in discussions about free speech, platform moderation, and political polarization in the digital space.