In a 7 March update to its online terms of use, the Bluesky social network, whose EU headquarters the European Commission had stated it was “looking for”, has announced that it has established it in Belgium.
Bluesky, which has its offices in Brussels, comes under the authority of the Belgian telecommunications regulator, which is responsible for ensuring that the platform complies with the Digital Services Act (DSA).
While all social networking platforms must comply with the DSA, only those designated as ‘Very Large Online Platforms’ (‘VLOPs’), which have at least 45 million users per month in the EU, are subject to the strictest rules, particularly in terms of transparency reporting and risk assessment (see EUROPE 13532/19).
At this stage, Bluesky has not yet reached the threshold that would make it a ‘VLOP’ under the DSA. At the end of last year, it claimed to have only around 20 million users worldwide, with audiences mainly in the United States, Brazil and Japan.
The Commission is relying on the national competent authorities and the EU27 coordinators to monitor Bluesky as it expands across the EU. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)