Bluesky, the semi-decentralized answer to X (formerly Twitter), recently took down an AI-generated “protest” video that showed President Trump sucking the toes of billionaire oligarch and self-proclaimed “first buddy” Elon Musk. The social platform dubbed the video “non-consensual explicit material” (essentially amounting to deepfake porn). After the writer who posted the video pointed out the political implications of the video, however, Bluesky reinstated the video, claiming that its moderators had initially missed the context.
The video in question first popped up on Monday, when Marisa Kabas, an independent journalist and author of The Handbasket, shared the clip online. The video in question had actually been sourced from the federal offices of HUD, where the video popped up on hacked TV screens throughout the agency. The text overlay of the grotesque footage read “Long Live The Real King,” in an apparent reference to the accusation that Musk is America’s real president.
The clip swiftly went viral on multiple platforms, including Bluesky. However, Kabas, who posted the video to the social media site, subsequently received a takedown notice from the platform, 404 Media reports. The message that Kabas received read as follows: “A Bluesky account you control (@marisakabas.bsky.social) posted content or shared a link that contains non-consensual explicit material, which is in violation of our Community Guidelines. As a result of this violation, we have taken down your post.” It continued: “We trust that you will understand the necessity of these measures and the gravity of the situation. Bluesky explicitly prohibits the sharing of non-consensual sexual media. You cannot use Bluesky to break the law or cause harm to others. All users must be treated with respect.”
Now, however, it would appear that the platform has reversed course on the matter. Kabas wrote an email back to Bluesky’s mods that reportedly said the following: “Hello—the post you have taken down was a video broadcast inside a government building to protest a fascist regime. It is in the public interest and it is legitimate news. Taking it down is an attempt to bury the story and an alarming form of censorship. I love this platform but I’m shocked by this decision. I ask you to reconsider it.”
404 Media writes that, when reached for comment, Bluesky said its moderators had reevaluated the newsworthy character of a fake video of Trump sucking off Elon’s feet. “This was a case of our moderators applying the policy for non-consensual AI content strictly,” they said, in an email. “After re-evaluating the newsworthy context, the moderation team is reinstating those posts.” Yes, the videos are now back on Bluesky and available for your viewing pleasure (well, maybe pleasure is the wrong word).