So, you finally made the jump to the butterfly app. Maybe you were tired of the "everything app" drama, or perhaps you just missed the feeling of a chronological timeline that didn't feel like a digital casino. But here is the thing: nobody actually reads the fine print. We just scroll to the bottom, hit "Accept," and hope for the best.
Honestly, the Bluesky terms of service are a weirdly fascinating beast. Because Bluesky isn't just a website—it's a "protocol" disguised as a social network—the legal stuff is fundamentally different from what you’d find on Facebook or Instagram.
The License You Grant (And No, They Don’t Own Your Soul)
One of the biggest scares on social media is the "ownership" myth. People often freak out thinking the platform now "owns" their photos. That isn't exactly how it works here.
When you post on Bluesky, you still own your content. However, to make the app actually function, you grant them a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, store, and display your stuff.
Basically, if they didn't have this, they couldn't show your post to your followers without you suing them for copyright infringement. It’s standard. But here is the kicker: because Bluesky is built on the AT Protocol, your data is way more "public" than you might be used to.
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- Your posts live on a "firehose."
- Third-party developers can build their own versions of Bluesky and show your posts there.
- The "license" extends to the ecosystem, not just the company.
The 2026 Reality: AI and Your Data
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: AI training. In late 2024 and throughout 2025, there was a massive industry shift where every major platform started feeding user posts into LLMs (Large Language Models).
The Bluesky terms of service and their public stance have been a bit more nuanced. Unlike some competitors that made "opt-in" the default for training their proprietary models, Bluesky’s open nature means they can’t actually stop other people from scraping the public firehose.
It's a "double-edged sword" of decentralization. They might not be using your breakfast photos to build a robot, but because the protocol is open, researchers and AI companies can grab that data easily. In 2026, the platform introduced more granular "User Intents for Data Reuse." It’s kinda like a robots.txt file for your social profile. You can signal to the world, "Hey, don't use my art for AI," but it's largely a "good faith" system. There is no magic "delete from the internet" button once it's on the relay.
Moderation in a Decentralized World
Moderation on Bluesky is probably the most complex part of the legal agreement. Traditional platforms have a "Supreme Court" of moderators. If you get banned, you’re gone.
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Bluesky uses something called Composable Moderation.
Under the official Bluesky terms of service, the company (Bluesky Social, PBC) can kick you off their app (bsky.app) if you break the rules. Their rules are pretty standard: no illegal content, no harassment, no self-harm promotion, and definitely no "identity churning" (that’s when you build a following as a cat account and suddenly turn into a crypto-scam bot).
However, because of the AT Protocol, a "ban" from the main app doesn't necessarily mean you're deleted from the network. You could, theoretically, move your data to a different provider. But honestly? Most people just use the main app, so a ban there is effectively a "social death sentence" for your reach.
Why the "Public Benefit Corporation" Status Matters
You might see "PBC" after their name. This isn't just corporate jargon.
As a Public Benefit Corporation, Bluesky is legally obligated to balance the interests of shareholders with a specific public benefit—in this case, creating a "low-barrier-to-entry" for open, public conversation.
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This impacts the terms of service because it makes it harder for them to suddenly "pivot to evil" and sell all your private DMs to the highest bidder without facing internal legal hurdles. It's a layer of protection most other social media companies don't have.
The "Credible Exit" Strategy
Ever felt like a hostage on an app because all your photos and friends are there? Bluesky's terms include provisions for account portability.
The goal—and they've been iterating on this throughout 2025—is that you should be able to take your "identity" (your followers, your posts, your handle) and move to a different server provider if you don't like how Bluesky is running things.
- Identity: Your "DID" (Decentralized Identifier) is yours.
- Data: You can export your archive.
- Relationships: The graph follows you.
What You Should Actually Do Now
Reading the terms is one thing; acting on them is another. If you're worried about your privacy or how your data is being used, here are the actionable steps to take:
- Check your "Data Reuse" settings: Go into your account preferences and ensure your "AI Training" signals are set to your preference. Even if it's "good faith," it's your first line of defense.
- Use a Custom Domain: If you’re serious about "owning" your presence, use a domain you own as your handle. If Bluesky ever disappears, you still own that identity.
- Audit your "App Passwords": If you use third-party tools (like Deck.blue or various mirrors), those tools have access to your account via "App Passwords." Review these regularly in your settings and revoke any you don't recognize.
- Remember the "Public" in Public Feed: Everything you post—including likes and follows—is public by design. There are no "private accounts" in the traditional sense on the AT Protocol yet. If you wouldn't put it on a billboard, don't post it.
The Bluesky terms of service represent a shift toward a more transparent, user-controlled internet, but that control comes with the responsibility of understanding that "open" means "open for everyone"—including the scrapers. Stay informed, keep your app passwords tight, and enjoy the lack of an algorithmic "For You" page that actually makes sense.