Use This List To Instantly Block Trolls and Disinformers on Bluesky

Protect the integrity of your information diet.

NOTE: This post was updated on December 2, 2024 to reflect changes in blocklists. If you’re like me, you want to spread healthy information. Be sure to share this post so that everyone can benefit.

Journalist Carole Cadwalladr has sounded the alarm about Big Tech’s pollution of our information ecosystem for almost a decade. She claims we have moved past the era of algorithmic information disruption (2016-2024) and are now living in “information chaos.”

This information chaos is nowhere more visible than on Musk’s Twitter, where most reply threads are either full of whataboutism, racism and misogyny, disinformation, or all of the above. Come January, Musk will be at the ready to flood the zone with even more shit in service to a personal agenda that relies heavily on a corrupt quid pro quo with Trump.

Many Americans are seeking to protect the integrity of the information they consume. Bluesky is emerging as the top app for fact-loving Americans seeking shelter from the propaganda storm. There’s just one problem. The disinformers are now joining Bluesky.

To aid those making a mass exodus from Musk’s mind-warp machine, some Bluesky users are creating blocklists for people wishing to avoid the type of bad faith accounts that caused them to leave Twitter in the first place. These are lists that contain accounts one might want to block. You subscribe to them and then with one click, block all of the accounts on the list.

Our information ecosystem is so dodgy that it is difficult to tell if all such lists are on the up and up. Are they good faith efforts to target trolls and disinformers? Or are they ruses created by bad actors who populate that with well-intentioned accounts so that trusting people inadvertently block them.

After a fair amount of research, I have decided to recommend some of the lists provided by an account called Skywatch Blue (@skywatch.blue). People who I trust follow and interact with the account owner. Also, the owner appears to be responsive to correcting mistakes, honoring requests for removal by people who have ended up on the lists in error.

Skywatch has block lists labeled “Trolls,” “MAGA,” and “Nazi Symbolism,” among others. So, if you want to avoid accounts that have bios touting Trump or Nazi affinity, you are covered.

I don’t understand some of the lists and so I don’t use them. There is a blocklist for all accounts that contain an upside down red triangle in their bio, which apparently is a symbol for pro-Palestinian politics. This was news to me. There is also a blocklist for people who have a hammer and sickle symbol in their profile.

So, of course, you should look it over and judge for yourself. After all, Skywatch Blue is a stranger to both you and me. I vetted the blocklist I use by scanning for accounts I knew were bad actors when I was a more regular Twitter user. You should do the same. You can always go back and review the lists or search Skywatch Blue’s account to see if users are reporting poor moderation on their part.

Once you have Bluesky downloaded on your phone (Download Apple, Download Android) you can find Skywatch Blue’s block lists by heading to their account and clicking “Lists” in their bio. Once you read what a list is about, click through and select “Subscribe.” You will have the option to mute all the accounts on the list or block them.

As we enter a new era of what feels like a post-truth America, I will endeavor to share more posts like this that help point folks towards tools they can use to maintain a healthy media diet free from disinformation and propaganda.

---

“Public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy.” When you subscribe, you're supporting the idea that we all deserve healthier information!

Click below to help me keep up the fight for better outcomes for everyone!

Here’s to healthier information,
Brian

Help spread this far and wide:

1. Like this post!

2. Re-stack it using the ♻️ button below!

3. Share this post on Substack and other social media sites:

4. Join the conversation, add your thoughts: