Bluesky

Why Bluesky Offers Things X (Formerly Twitter) Still Doesn’t

Bluesky gives users control that X doesn’t, with custom feeds, selectable labelers, and an open system that lets people shape their own experience.

Amber

08 Dec 2025 — 2 min read

Bluesky and X may look similar on the surface, but the way they’re built creates two very different experiences. Bluesky leans heavily on openness and user control, while X remains a closed platform where the company decides how most things work. Because of that, Bluesky ends up with features that X simply doesn’t provide.

1. Labelers You Can Choose

Bluesky lets outside moderation services tag posts with labels. These labels can mark anything sensitive content, misinformation, nudity, spam, community rules, whatever.
The key difference: you decide which labelers you trust. If you don’t like one service’s standards, you can switch to another or turn it off. It’s transparent, flexible, and not tied to a single company’s judgment.

X doesn’t offer anything similar. All content decisions are internal: rankings, tags, safety labels, and warnings come from the company, not from a set of independent moderation services.

2. Custom Feeds Instead of One Algorithm

One of Bluesky’s biggest strengths is its custom feed system. Anyone can build a feed with its own sorting logic, chronological posts, trending art, tech news, queer communities, jokes only, long posts, or extremely niche topics. Users can pin multiple feeds and switch between them instantly.

X does not allow third parties to create full timeline replacements. You get whatever ranking system the company uses, plus a Following tab. That’s it.

3. Composable Moderation

Moderation on Bluesky isn’t a single monolithic system. It’s a stack of components that can be mixed together:

your chosen labelers
community-driven moderation
app-level rules
personal filters

This gives users control without forcing everyone into one universal set of rules.

On X, moderation is centralized. Users can block and mute, but the overall worldview of the platform comes from the company itself.

4. A Protocol, Not a Walled Garden

Bluesky runs on the AT Protocol, which is designed for interoperability. Developers can build apps, feed generators, moderation tools, and new services that plug directly into the network. It encourages experimentation because it’s open by design.

X remains a closed platform. Developers can use the API if they pay or follow strict terms, but they can’t build custom algorithms, clients with equal access, or alternative moderation layers. It’s all locked inside the platform.

What This Means for Actual Users

You get more control over what you see.
You aren’t stuck with one algorithm.
You can adjust moderation to match your own comfort level.
Developers can build things users actually want, instead of waiting for one company to add features.

Bluesky still has limitations it’s smaller, still growing, and still figuring out some community tools but its architecture gives people choices that X simply doesn’t provide.