Social platform Bluesky is making its moderation tool Ozone open-source, enabling users to have control over how the content on their timelines is moderated.
By launching Ozone, Bluesky is giving individuals and teams the opportunity to operate their own moderation services that can be seamlessly incorporated into the Bluesky app. This advancement empowers users to apply filters from these services, providing Bluesky users with the capability to craft a personalized feed. This feature will complement Bluesky’s existing moderation service and community guidelines, forming part of Bluesky’s innovative “stackable approach” to content moderation.
Credit: Bluesky.
An example provided by the app is the “Spider Shield” filter, which can be understood as a moderation filter that shields a user’s feed from any content related to spiders, if that is their preference. With these filters, users can also collaborate with like-minded individuals to collectively moderate niche content.
Bluesky officially opens to everyone, no invite code needed
Currently, the tool is accessible on the desktop version of the app and is set to be introduced to mobile platforms soon. Ozone was made open-source recently, and users will be able to activate the moderation tools later this week.
“On an open social network like Bluesky, you can tailor your own experience,” as mentioned in the social platform’s blog post. “A single team cannot cater perfectly to the entire world’s moderation and curation needs, given the diverse contexts, cultures, and preferences. Therefore, we are excited to open up the ecosystem to empower experts, developers, and users with local insights to contribute their perspectives for users to opt into alongside Bluesky’s moderation service.”
Bluesky faced community backlash previously when users with inappropriate usernames containing racial slurs were permitted to register for the app. The Bluesky team informed Mashable that these accounts were removed by the moderation team, and they are continuously enhancing moderation and support systems as the platform expands its user base.
A prominent contender as an alternative to X/Twitter, Bluesky, which was initially invite-only, became accessible to all users in February this year. By November 2023, the app had attracted 2 million users and has since grown to a community of over 5 million users.
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Meera is a Culture Reporter at Mashable, joining the UK team in 2021. She writes about digital culture, mental health, big tech, entertainment, and more. Her work has also been published in The New York Times, Vice, Vogue India, and others.
