Why Does Bluesky Keep Going Down, and How Can the Outages Be Prevented?

As an alternative to X, Bluesky has grown in popularity in recent years, often being seen as a social media platform for those who have left-wing politics. Viewed as a safe haven by fans and an echo chamber by haters, Bluesky isn't free from controversy.

The social media platform officially launched in February 2024 (although it existed before that as an invite-only beta). Since then, it's grown to boast 43 million registered users, as of March 2026. However, Bluesky's upward trajectory is at risk due to its numerous outages, which have been getting increasingly longer each time. Naturally, the platform's users want to know: Why does Bluesky keep going down, and what is being done to fix the problem?

One recent Bluesky outage took place on April 15 and lasted a whopping 18 hours. Some users were unable to access the platform while others remained completely unaffected. According to Bluesky itself, the issue stemmed from a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. A DDoS attack occurs when so many people use a platform at once that the servers crash.

The platform's official social media account posted, "Our team received a report of intermittent app outages at about 11:40 pm PDT on April 15, 2026. They worked through the night to mitigate a sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which intensified throughout the day." Bluesky then commented on that post, explaining how the outage has affected users, but assuring people that there has not been a breach of data.

Naturally, the platform's users were appreciative of the update but nervous about future outages. Comments included, "Glad you're back. At some point, if you discover who was behind this, I suspect that many would like to know. Thanks. Maybe it doesn't help, but it might be a sign of your growing influence that someone would resort to behavior like this." Another echoed, "As long as we gotta a pulse, we ain’t gonna go anywhere. The fact that they attacked says we are on the right track."

While Bluesky is still investigating where the DDoS attack came from, the platform's users have their own speculations. Theories range from right-wing extremists to Elon Musk himself, out of anger over people leaving X for the newer platform. Others believe that a foreign entity is involved, namely Iran or Russia. Meanwhile, the less conspiracy-inclined people wondered if perhaps Bluesky simply isn't equipped to handle its recent influx of users.

In an attempt to reassure users, Bluesky has reported that its team is working around the clock to stabilize services, address rate-limit errors, and secure its infrastructure. That said, some users still reported issues with the platform, even after Bluesky announced they were back up and running. That discrepancy, coupled with the fact that this was Bluesky's third outage in a single month, has left users concerned that the platform may not last much longer.