U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has rapidly become the third most-blocked account on the social media platform Bluesky. This follows the account receiving its official verification on a recent Friday, according to third-party tracking data. The verification has sparked considerable anger among many Bluesky users, who are recommending others block the account directly or subscribe to a block list that includes all official U.S. government accounts.
That blocklist was originally introduced after the White House and multiple federal agencies joined Bluesky last October to post messages blaming Democrats for a government shutdown. The accounts that joined at that time included the Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, Transportation, the Interior, Health and Human Services, State, and Defense, along with the White House itself. That move made the White House one of the most-blocked accounts on the platform, where it remains in the number two position, just behind Vice President J.D. Vance.
ICE, however, did not join Bluesky in that initial wave. Data indicates the account joined the network on November 26, 2025. It was verified a few days ago according to an independently-run tracker, which suggests Bluesky’s team may have lacked enough information to apply the verification earlier, was unaware of the account, or was internally debating how to handle it. The platform has not responded to requests for comment. One tracker now shows the ICE account is over sixty percent of the way to becoming the single most-blocked account on Bluesky.
ICE maintains many accounts on other major social media sites, including X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. These accounts are typically verified on platforms that offer such a mechanism, with YouTube being a noted exception.
Bluesky’s decision to host and verify the ICE account establishes the network as one aligning more with larger social media giants than with the original ethos of the open social web, or fediverse. In the fediverse, user communities exert more control over which accounts gain attention and traction. This network includes apps like Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Flipboard, and, to a limited extent, Instagram Threads. The U.S. government does not have official Mastodon accounts.
One reason for avoiding a platform like Mastodon, an open source federated app, could be its smaller size. Additionally, any government account joining that network could be easily blocked by individual server operators. While the account could set up its own server, other communities could refuse to interoperate with it, greatly limiting its reach.
Mastodon’s founder, Eugen Rochko, recently posted an anti-ICE message on the platform. A day later, he announced he was opting his account out of the bridge that connects Mastodon with Bluesky. Bridging technology is meant to allow different decentralized platforms to connect. Coincidentally, a key bridging project recently launched a way to add domain blocklists to bridged accounts, which could allow fediverse users to block government agencies posting on Bluesky.
When reached for comment, Rochko would not confirm if ICE’s presence on Bluesky influenced his decision to leave the bridge, stating it was a personal choice. Tension has often existed between the fediverse and the decentralized social platform that includes Bluesky and other newer networks. Because these networks have different approaches to decentralization, they each have their own supporters and critics, some of whom disagree on whether the networks should be bridged at all.