Community Guidelines

Last Updated: 14 August 2025

Bluesky is a social networking application provided by Bluesky Social, PBC ("we", "us", "our”). Bluesky runs on the Authenticated Transfer Protocol ("AT Protocol"), a decentralized social networking protocol that supports many different kinds of services. Together with the Bluesky Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Copyright Policy, these Community Guidelines ("Guidelines") govern your use of the Bluesky application, website, and services (collectively, "Bluesky"). By accessing or using Bluesky, you agree to be bound by these Guidelines. Please read them carefully.

These Guidelines only apply to social networking that happens on Bluesky. If you’re using another social networking application on the AT Protocol that isn’t Bluesky Social (a “Developer Application”), the terms and conditions of that Developer Application will govern your experience. We are not responsible for the content or practices of Developer Applications.

Our mission is to build technologies for open and decentralized public conversation. We want to foster a vibrant and evolving community that respects individual preferences and adapts to the changing needs of our users. These guidelines are part of your agreement with us and set out some rules for using Bluesky.

We drafted these guidelines with the following three principles in mind, while making sure to comply with applicable legal requirements:

1. Empower user choice: We strive to make choices on Bluesky that align with your personal preferences and values. To do this, we try to make it easy for people to run their own apps, to choose the algorithms that power their feeds, and to migrate between services.
2. Cultivate a welcoming environment: We want to create a safe and friendly space where users feel welcomed, supported, and enjoy participating.
3. Evolve with feedback: As we evolve, our guidelines and standards will, too. We will regularly review and update these guidelines in response to your feedback, emerging trends, and changing laws.

Bluesky Community Guidelines

We take seriously our responsibility to Bluesky users. These Guidelines are designed to promote a safe and enjoyable experience. To achieve this goal, we moderate the content on Bluesky Social using our discretion, and we have created ways for you to adjust content filters within the App based on your preferences.

Unless they are otherwise defined in these Community Guidelines, all capitalized terms have the meaning given to them in the Bluesky Terms of Service. Throughout these Guidelines, the terms "including," "includes," "such as," and "for example" mean "without limitation."

1. The Cardinal Directions

1. Safety First. We do not allow content that shows or promotes violence or harm–to adults, children, or animals. Do not violate anyone's privacy or share their personal information.
2. Respect Others. We do not allow content that promotes or that is hate speech, harassment, bullying, or discrimination.
3. Be Authentic. We do not allow content intended to misrepresent, defraud, trick, deceive, or mislead.
4. Follow the Rules. We do not allow content that is illegal. This includes content that is prohibited by laws about online content, intellectual property, copyright, trade, commerce, cybersecurity, data protection. Do not try to avoid our moderation controls, either.

If you violate these Guidelines, we may hide, remove or label your content, or we may suspend or terminate your account, permanently ban you from the platform, or–in extreme cases–make a report to the appropriate authorities.

2. Safety First

1. Do not glorify violence or harm. For example, do not post content that:
   1. Depicts or Encourages Violence or Abuse: Includes violence or threats against others, intimate partner abuse, or harm to animals.
   2. Promotes Self-Harm or Unsafe Behavior:
      1. Shares methods or encouragement for self-harm, eating disorders, or dangerous stunts.
      2. Interferes with others' recovery efforts.
   3. Sexualizes or Exploits Minors: Depicts minors in a sexualized way or romanticizes inappropriate relationships with them.
2. Respect others' privacy. For example, do not post:
   1. Private or Sensitive Personal Information:
      1. Home addresses, contact info, financial or medical data, or government-issued IDs.
      2. Information about someone's protected characteristics—such as sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, caste, or immigration status—for the purpose of targeting them or discriminating against them.
   2. Non-Consensual Sharing:
      1. Private messages or communications you weren't authorized to share.
      2. Information that could pose safety risks, such as real-time location data or identifying information about minors.
3. These rules do not prevent you from posting content that involves:
   1. Journalism, Education, and Advocacy:
      1. Factual reporting, academic research, or educational content about criminal acts, violence, mental health, online safety, youth risks, or public interest issues.
      2. Anti-violence advocacy, safety campaigns, or prevention resources.
      3. Content warning about dangerous viral challenges.
   2. Artistic, Fictional, and Historical Expression:
      1. Depictions of violence or sensitive topics in fiction, art, or historical documentation—if appropriately labeled and not glorifying harm.
      2. Internationally recognized art containing non-sexualized images of minors.
   3. Support, Recovery, and Mental Health:
      1. Personal experiences with recovery, therapy, or surviving violence, shared to raise awareness or foster support.
      2. Support group discussions and general mental health resource sharing.
   4. Animals and Nature: Content about animal welfare, veterinary education, responsible wildlife photography, or legitimate rescue operations.
   5. Transparency and Public Information:
      1. Publicly available information related to government transparency or public officials.
      2. Personal information you share about yourself that does not violate other rules.

3. Respect Others

1. Do not post, promote, or encourage hate, harassment, or bullying. For example, do not post content that:
   1. Targets or Intimidates Others:
      1. Uses threats, violent language, or rhetoric that causes fear or intimidation.
      2. Promotes harassment, bullying, or abuse in school or community settings.
      3. Uses or promotes apps or tools designed to undress or exploit individuals (e.g., "deepfakes" or "nudify" apps).
   2. Incites Discrimination or Hatred: Attacks individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected traits.
2. These rules do not prevent you from sharing:
   1. Anti-bullying resources, digital citizenship content, or safety education.
   2. Educational material that helps people recognize and avoid online abuse or grooming.

4. Be Authentic

1. Do not mislead or deceive others. For example, do not post or engage in:
   1. Deceptive Identity Practices:
      1. Pretending to be someone else or an official group in a way that could mislead others.
      2. Role-playing involving fictional minors in sexual contexts.
      3. Misrepresenting your age or helping others do so to bypass rules.
      4. Identity churning (switching identities after gaining followers), handle-squatting, or using misleading names or bios.
      5. Voter suppression or sharing false political information.
   2. Abuse of Verification and Trust Features:
      1. Falsifying documents to get verified, misrepresenting verification status, or trying to regain verification after denial or revocation.
      2. Selling, transferring, or sharing verified accounts.
   3. Spam and Malicious Activity: Spamming, phishing, or using manipulative tactics to exploit other users.
2. These rules do not prevent:
   1. Clearly labeled parody, commentary, satire, or fan accounts (must say so in both display name and profile).
   2. Accounts representing fictional characters, as long as it's obvious they're not real people.
   3. Historical, educational, or artistic content that uses public figures or institutions with proper context.

5. Follow the Rules

1. Do not break the law or violate safety rules. For example, do not post or engage in:
   1. Illegal or Dangerous Behavior:
      1. Promote or organize criminal activity, human trafficking, mob violence, or extremism.
      2. Share materials that include instructions for crimes or depict sexual assault or non-consensual acts.
      3. Facilitate or advertise youth gambling, youth substance use, or sexual extortion.
   2. Sexual Exploitation and Abuse:
      1. Share any content that depicts, simulates, or is AI-generated CSAM (child sexual abuse material)—this includes illustrated or animated sexualized depictions of minors.
      2. Share any content that depicts or promotes sexual activity with an animal.
      3. Promote or participate in networks that share CSAM or that facilitate contact between adults and minors for exploitation.
      4. Share real or synthetic intimate images or sexual content without consent.
      5. Engage in technology-facilitated abuse, harassment, or unwanted sexual advances.
   3. Platform Misuse:
      1. Evade enforcement, exceed rate limits, or harm the system's performance.
      2. Behave in a way that is intended to circumvent the rules of Bluesky or any connected Developer Application.
2. These rules do not prevent you from sharing:
   1. Consensual adult content that is clearly labeled and follows our policies.
   2. News, educational, or advocacy content about sexual exploitation, harassment, or prevention.
   3. Resources, reporting documentation, and support for survivors.

6. Reporting

We rely on the entire community (developers, creators, users, visitors) to enforce our community guidelines. The reporting system built into the App and available online or the in-app feedback form helps us detect violations of the Bluesky Community Guidelines. More information about reporting can be found on our Support page.

1. User Violations of Bluesky Community Guidelines. You can report suspected violations of the Community Guidelines by reporting posts, accounts, or direct messages with the in-app reporting feature. Our Terms of Service explain our Complaints and Appeals process.
2. Developer Violations of Bluesky Terms. To report an app or service that you believe is not complying with or enforcing these Guidelines or the Bluesky Terms of Service or Privacy Policy, please email Bluesky at support@bsky.app.
3. App-Specific Guidelines. Developers of apps and operators of services may establish their own standards, separate from these Guidelines. These services may temporarily or permanently ban violators from their apps or services. To report violations of a third-party app or service's standard of conduct, please contact the developer or provider of the third-party app or service. Bluesky Social cannot enforce the standards of conduct of third-party apps or services.

7. Bluesky Labeler Guidelines

Labels help the Bluesky community to control their experience by contributing content classifications. The people and organizations operating labeling services should work for the overall benefit and safety of the Bluesky community.

1. Do:
   1. Keep labels straightforward and non-abusive.
   2. Provide labeling guidance that is impartial and based on clear, observable content and behavior.
   3. Apply labels impartially, ethically, and consistently. The less bias you have when applying a label, the more trust that users can have in your labeling service.
   4. Be upfront about what you're labeling, why, and how, to help users decide whether to rely on your judgments.
   5. Consider proportionate interventions when applying labels. Use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. In general, it's best to start by labeling content before labeling an entire account.
   6. Should you choose manual moderation, accept reports against the labeling parameters you have designed, assign labels, and review appeals in a timely manner.
2. Do not:
   1. Use labels in a way that is abusive, harassing, or targeting of specific accounts, groups, or protected characteristics.
   2. Design labels that use profanity, spurious allegations, derogatory terms, or harmful tags.
   3. Label maliciously (i.e. knowingly mischaracterizing content as harmful or problematic when it plainly does not go against your stated policies or guidelines)
   4. Accept compensation for specific labeling actions - or attempt to extort individuals to have labels applied or removed.
   5. Claim to represent Bluesky or to show false affiliation with other entities.
   6. Deploy labeling services in a way that undermines Bluesky's network stability.
   7. Use labeling accounts or services to evade moderation or blocks on your main account, or deploy labels in an attempt to do so.

Violations of this guidance may result in remediations such as deletion of labels, temporary or permanent suspension of accounts, and steps up to and including disassociating your labeling service from Bluesky Social.

8. Bluesky Developer Guidelines

Bluesky reserves the right to block the content of any Developer Application on Bluesky Social if the Developer Application does not adhere to the Bluesky Terms. Bluesky further reserves the right to block a Developer Application on Bluesky Social that does not comply with the following rules:

1. Don't spam. We trust that you will create a great app that will grow organically. Apps that interact with users should be opt-in. Our definition of spam includes:
   1. Generating automated or bulk interactions, including any that would cause a notification to a user such as a message, follow, like or reply
   2. Any method to automate generating followers or interactions, including account generation tools
   3. Spambots
   4. Evading rate limits or disrupting the Bluesky network
2. Apps with user-generated content or social networking features must include:
   1. A method to report illegal content
   2. A method for blocking forbidden content from being shared in the app
   3. A method for blocking abusive users from the app
3. All services must have a method for deleting content a user has requested to be deleted.
4. Developers must have a system for appropriately responding to all user reports of violations within their apps.
5. Developers must maintain updated contact information accessible to the public including an email address that is regularly monitored.
6. Developers should maintain reasonable security measures to protect against unauthorized access or disclosure of any end-user information or app data.
7. Failure to respond appropriately to known violations of Bluesky Social's Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Copyright Policy, or Community Guidelines may result in suspension of access to services or features run on Bluesky's infrastructure. Developers should keep records of all reports of violations and their responses, and Bluesky may at any time request such data to ensure compliance with its policies.

We may update these Guidelines periodically. We will always post the revised version here and we will notify you through the App, website, or other communication channel if we make any material changes.

It’s your responsibility to review the Guidelines regularly. By continuing to use Bluesky Social after any update, you agree to the revised Guidelines. If you do not agree to the changes, you must stop using Bluesky.

Thanks for doing your part.