I want to step in and point out that there’s a lot of misinformation circulating.
Some people have been incorrectly claiming that if one country passes a certain law, then everyone — everywhere — must comply with it.
That’s not how jurisdiction works.
You’re responsible for following the laws of your own country. Your government can’t impose its laws on the entire world, and neither can any other government.
For example, if Russia suddenly requires that anyone signing up for a website must pay $5 and submit a DNA sample — but your site, and you are based in France — you’re under no obligation to comply. Russia can make whatever demands it wants, but you’re not Russian, and it’s not your responsibility to enforce their laws.
What is particularly troubling about #Bluesky is their aggressive policy of obeying in advance all laws from any jurisdiction. They banned Turkish dissidents under this rationale, and are now preemptively doing UK ID verification. It makes one think these reasons are pretextual, or at the very least cowardly.
Blue Sky is a corporation trying to please its shareholders.
I also don’t know where Blue Sky’s offices are. If they’re registered in a particular country, then they’re subject to that country’s jurisdiction.
But if you're running a forum or a Fediverse site, and neither you nor your server is located there, you can tell them to go to hell — because it’s not your problem.
All valid points. And that is sort of the whole point. Bluesky, as a US corporation without apparently very deep pockets has got to be afraid of their legal exposure if only due to the potential cost of litigation. So, they are not well situated to protect their user's privacy rights.