Social media bans on teens risk strengthening Big Tech's grip on the sector, Bluesky exec warns

This photograph shows a set up smart-phone screen displaying the logo of main social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Telegram, X, Bluesky, Tiktok and Whatsapp. Martin Lelievre | Afp | Getty Images Government action to ban social media platforms risks strengthening Big Tech's grip on the industry further, limiting access for smaller players, an exec at BlueSky has warned. Rose Wang, Bluesky's chief operating officer, told CNBC on the sidelines of SXSW in London on Wednesday that the smaller open-source platform isn't opposed to regulation but that smaller players in the industry should be protected. "I support the protection and the safety of youth, the question that we have then is at what cost, because essentially what I'm scared of is in the long term, we're headed to a world where there's about three to five platforms, and extreme heavy regulation of those platforms, and basically the whole compliance teams of these platforms are 10 times the size of our entire team," Wang said. "So, basically, we're living in a world where it's almost impossible for smaller entrants to come in and build healthier spaces," she added. The open-source platform was created within X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2019 and endorsed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Bluesky spun off in 2021 and soon after gained prominence as a rival to the Elon Musk -owned platform. …