JD Vance gets suspended from X competitor Bluesky – just 12 minutes after first post

Vice President JD Vance was suspended from the left-leaning social media platform Bluesky on Wednesday, just minutes after joining and sharing his first post.

“Hello Bluesky, I’ve been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis,” Vance wrote in his first post on the X competitor. “So I’m thrilled to be here to engage with all of you.” 

The vice president went on to weigh in on the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld Tennessee’s restrictions on transgender medical treatments for minors. 

“To that end, I found Justice [Clarence] Thomas’s concurrence on medical care for transgender youth quite illuminating,” Vance wrote, including a screenshot of the conservative justice’s statement agreeing with the 6-3 ruling.  

“He argues that many of our so-called ‘experts’ have used bad arguments and substandard science to push experimental therapies on our youth,” the vice president continued. “I might add that many of those scientists are receiving substantial resources from big pharma to push these medicines on kids.” 

“What do you think?” 

Within 12 minutes of the post, and Vance announcing on X that he had joined the platform, his Bluesky account was suspended, according to Axios journalist Marc Caputo.  

“Not found. Account has been suspended,” read a message on Vance’s Bluesky page. 

The ban was brief, as the vice president’s account was reinstated just minutes later. 

It does not appear that the vice president’s post ran afoul of any of Bluesky’s community guidelines.

Bluesky launched as a decentralized social media alternative after Elon Musk bought and took over what was then Twitter.

It saw massive growth in the aftermath of President Trump’s 2024 election win — with its user base tripling from 10 million to 30 million between November 2024 and May 2025, according to the Pew Research Center.

Liberal-leaning X users flocked to the platform, apparently in search of a more ideologically aligned environment, and several users commenting on Vance’s Bluesky post appeared angered that he had joined the platform. 

“Don’t just block. Report the account and the posts,” one person fumed. 

Another noted that they had “reported” the vice president’s post “for misinformation.” 

Bluesky, however, claimed Vance’s account was suspended over concerns it was run by an impersonator of the vice president, not because of his post.

“Vice President Vance’s account was briefly flagged by our automated systems that try to detect impersonation attempts which have targeted public figures like him in the past. The account was quickly restored and verified so people can easily confirm its authenticity,” a spokesperson for the company said. “We welcome the Vice President to join the conversation on Bluesky.”