ICE became one of the most blocked accounts on Bluesky after verification

ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has now become 3rd most blocked account on Blueskyafter receiving official verification there, according third party trackers. Bluesky User, no surprisethat angry about government accounts hosted on the platform. Many recommend that others block the account directly or subscribe to a block list that includes it all official US government accounts.

The block list was introduced after the White House and other government agencies in the Trump administration entered Bluesky last October to send a message that blames the Democrats for the government’s death. At accounts that join in the inclusive period Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, Transportation, Interior, Health and Human Services, State, and Defense, in addition to the White House itself.

The movement created the White House one of the most blocked accounts in Bluesky, and today it remains in the No. Clearsky. (The site uses the Bluesky API to track which accounts are blocked the most and other blocking activity.)

ICE, however, did not join Bluesky in October. according to Bluecrawler Join Date CheckerThe @icegov.bsky.social account joined the social network on November 26, 2025.

The account verified a few days ago according to independent-roto Verified Account Trackerwhich suggests that either the Bluesky team doesn’t have enough information to apply a verification check mark, but they don’t know if it’s an account (please!), or an internal debate on how to handle the problem. Bluesky has not responded to a request for comment.

one tracker currently showing ICE accounts as more than 60% of the way to being Bluesky’s most blocked accounts.

ICE today already many accounts on other social media sites, including X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. These accounts tend to be verified on platforms that have a verification mechanism, with the exception of YouTube.

Bluesky’s decision to host and verify ICE establishes a social network that is now more in line with other larger social media giants, than with the original ethos of the open social web known as fediverse, where the user community has more control over the accounts that gain attention and traction.

The fediverse, which represents a network of independent but interconnected social media platforms, including apps like MastodonPixelfed, PeerTube, Flipboard, and, to some extent, Instagram Threads, although the Meta app is not fully integrated. The US government does not have Mastodon accounts, but users can Follow accounts like @potus on Threads from their Mastodon account, if they choose.

One reason to avoid it Mastodonan open source federation app running on the ActivityPub protocol, may be smaller in size. But also, any government account that joins this network can easily be blocked by individual server operators. This will not prevent the account from setting up its own server to send to fediverse, but other communities may refuse to federate (interoperate) with the server, greatly diminishing its reach.

Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko, who stepped down as CEO in Novemberciting burnout, recently posted anti-ICE message on Mastodonnoted that “Abolish ICE” does not “go nearly far enough” to solve the problem in the US

A day later, he declare he chose the account out of the bridge connecting Mastodon with Bluesky.

Bridging technology, which includes project known as Bridgy Fedintended to allow different decentralized platforms to connect to each other, albeit using different protocols, as is the case with Blueskywhich runs on the AT Protocol. Coincidentally Bridgy Fed today launched a way to add to the domain blocklist to bridged accounts, which may allow fediverse users to block government agencies from posting on Bluesky.

Reached for comment, Rochko would not confirm whether ICE’s involvement in Bluesky was a factor in his decision to leave the bridge, saying it was a “personal” decision.

However, there is often tension between the fediverse and atmosphereor decentralized social platforms that include Bluesky and more, new networks and apps like Blacksky, Northsky Socialand others. Because these networks have different approaches to decentralization, each network has its own supporters and critics, some of whom can’t even agree that the network should be bridged in the first place.