ICE Becomes One of Bluesky’s Most-Blocked Accounts

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has rapidly climbed to the third position among the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky. The surge in blocking activity follows the platform’s decision to grant the agency official verification status last Friday, according to data from third-party tracking services.

The arrival of government entities on the platform has fueled significant pushback from the user base. Many members of the community are actively encouraging others to block the ICE account or subscribe to curated blocklists that target official U.S. government profiles. Current tracking tools indicate that the ICE account is already more than 60% of the way toward becoming the most-blocked profile on the entire network.

This trend mirrors the reception of other federal agencies that joined Bluesky last October. During that period, the White House and departments including Defense, State, and Homeland Security established a presence on the site to disseminate messaging regarding government shutdowns. Currently, the White House remains the second most-blocked account on the platform, trailing only Vice President J.D. Vance.

A Shift in Platform Identity

While government agencies maintain a presence across major social media platforms—such as X, Instagram, and LinkedIn—the integration into Bluesky highlights a departure from the network’s decentralized roots. The platform’s decision to verify these accounts signals a shift toward the operational models of larger social media giants, moving away from the “fediverse” ethos where community-led moderation holds more influence.

The tension between these different approaches to social networking is evident in recent industry developments:

• Fediverse Friction: Eugen Rochko, the founder of Mastodon, recently announced he was disconnecting his personal account from the bridge that links Mastodon with Bluesky.
• Bridging Technology: Tools like Bridgy Fed are evolving to allow users to implement domain-level blocklists, potentially giving fediverse users more control over interactions with government agencies hosted on Bluesky.
• Account Activity: According to Bluecrawler, the @icegov.bsky.social account was created on November 26, 2025, but only recently received its verification checkmark.

Bluesky has not issued a statement regarding the verification of the ICE account or the subsequent user backlash. The agency’s presence on the platform remains a point of contention as users continue to leverage the site’s blocking features to curate their own digital environments.