The White House made its Bluesky debut on Friday—and was immediately met with savage trolling.
It’s the first time the U.S. seat of power has had a presence on the left-leaning social media site, which users flocked to following Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.
“What’s up, Bluesky?” wrote The White House in their opening post. ”We thought you might’ve missed some of our greatest hits, so we put this together for you. Can’t wait to spend more quality time together!”
Users mercilessly ridiculed the account’s debut posts with memes about Jeffrey Epstein, Vice President JD Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s alleged enthusiasm for a drink.
“We haven’t missed a thing!” one user responded. “But get ready. Those juvenile posts from every federal account are going to go over super well here! And, people here really want to see those Epstein files!”
The White House shared a promo reel highlighting provocative actions taken by President Donald Trump during his second term, including renaming The Gulf of Mexico, installing a framed photo of the autopen used by President Joe Biden, and a doctored image of Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero.
The reel was met with a copy of a letter that was allegedly written by President Donald Trump to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday, alongside a barrage of other insults and critiques.
“So, you signed up to Bluesky just to get ratioed,” another user shared.
The account was just one of at least 12 verified government accounts that opened simultaneously on Bluesky on Friday.
The social networking application launched in 2023 and uses a decentralized protocol, rather than an algorithm, to give users greater freedom over the kind of content they see. It currently has 30 million users.
Interior, Health, Homeland Security and other U.S. government accounts followed the White House’s lead, engaging in the aggressive style of meme-driven posting that official communications channels have been distributing since Trump took office again in January.
“Hello, Bluesky!” The Department of State shared. “We heard this is a great place to have an open and honest dialogue, so we’re here to talk about how the Democrat shutdown is undermining our country on the world stage.”
“Hello Department of State!” one user responded. “This IS a great place for honest dialogue! And you’ve just demonstrated that you’re here to gaslight. So, release the Epstein files, open up the government—you ARE the ‘majority,’ and grow a spine.”
Within hours of joining, the White House account had acquired just 2,800 followers and been blocked by more than 50,000 users. Lists of the new official government accounts to block were circulated on site.
“Weirdly fun to block the White House,” comedian and actor Paul F. Tompkins wrote.
It’s not the first time the social media platform has seen an influx of right-wing activity. In November 2024, a growing number of conservative voices joined the platform, with many of them complaining that they faced discrimination for doing so.
In June, JD Vance joined the social media site, quickly becoming the most blocked person on the site.
