Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter {beacon} Technology Technology   The Big Story  The buzz for Bluesky  Social media platform Bluesky has experienced a large surge in users as Democrats, including a number of prominent figures on the left, announced their departure from X in the wake of the presidential election.  Adobe Stock Nearly 1 million users signed up for Bluesky each day last week as the social networking website thrives in the wake of a liberal exodus from X.    Many users either quitting X or deactivating their accounts cited a “toxic” or “disturbing” environment, in part blaming owner Elon Musk’s leadership and promotion of certain political stances.    President-elect Trump’s win and and his close alliance with Musk have intensified those concerns, repelling users who have grown uncomfortable or exhausted with the political climate on X.    “Twitter has always had its problems but over the last year or so, it has become a more toxic place, it certainly minimizes progressive voices, it has become a conservative ethosphere and I see that trend continuing,” Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau told The Hill.     To be sure, Bluesky’s size pales in comparison to X.   Musk’s site reportedly has 588 million accounts, meaning the users who have left, including more than 115,000 U.S. web users who deactivated their accounts the day after Election Day, represent a small segment of its audience.   Bluesky’s total user base surged by more than 500 percent after the election, but still has just 22.5 million users as of Monday afternoon.   Still, the Bluesky spike points to a new trend in social media of users dispersing themselves among different platforms.    Read more in a full report at TheHill.com   Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we're Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:   Microsoft investigating outages affecting Outlook, Teams An outage at Microsoft impacted thousands of online users on Monday as they attempted to use its Microsoft 365 service for emails, calendars and other features.   Full Story   Khanna says Democrats will work with Musk’s DOGE on cutting defense budget Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Monday suggested that Democrats could work with tech billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) on cutting the defense budget. The issue came up during an interview Khanna gave to CNN anchor Jim Acosta, who noted the new efficiency panel. President-elect Trump named Musk and former GOP presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to be the heads of the government efficiency …  Full Story   Judge schedules trial in Meta antitrust case The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust case against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will head to trial on April 14.  U.S. District Judge James Boasberg scheduled a bench trial, meaning the case will not go before a jury and the judge will decide the outcome of the trial.  The case had been poised to move forward since Boasberg denied Meta’s request for summary judgement earlier this month.   …  Full Story   Most young knowledge workers using AI: Poll The vast majority of Generation Z knowledge workers said they are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their work, according to a new study, underscoring the increased embrace of the advancing technology. The research study, conducted by The Harris Poll and commissioned by Google Workspace, found 82 percent of knowledge workers ages 22-39 are harnessing AI tools at work, while 98 percent said they expect AI to impact …  Full Story   The Refresh  News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:   EU says Blueksy violating disclosure rules The European Commission said Bluesky lacks a dedicated page with information about the number of users in the European Union and where it is legally established as required by the bloc's regulations, Reuters reported.   Instagram introduces location-sharing feature  Instagram users will soon be able to share their locations with their friends over direct messages as the platform looks to compete with Apple's Find My and Snapchat's Snap Map, TechCrunch reports.    In Other News  Branch out with other reads on The Hill:   Bezos, Musk rivalry heats up ahead of Trump’s second term A social media spat between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos this week underscored a sharpening rivalry between two of the world’s richest men at a time when both are trying to grow their sprawling business empires in President-elect Trump’s second term. “Just learned tonight at Mar-a-Lago that Jeff Bezos was telling everyone that @realDonaldTrump would lose for sure, so they should sell all their Tesla and SpaceX stock,” Musk wrote … Full Story   Neil deGrasse Tyson dismisses Musk’s Mars dreams: ‘I don’t see it happening’ Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said he doesn’t think Elon Musk’s vision for space travel to Mars is realistic during a Friday night episode of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher“. “I don’t see it happening until governments judge that it’s geopolitically in our interest,” he said in conversation with Donna Brazile and Andrew Young. “But I believe President-elect Trump has some interest in Mars, … Full Story   What Others are Reading  Two key stories on The Hill right now: Mike Waltz to resign from House day of inauguration to join Trump administration Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) will resign from the House on Jan. 20, the day President-elect Trump takes office, to become the national security adviser … Read more Judge dismisses Trump’s federal election interference charges President-elect Trump’s criminal indictment accusing him of conspiring to subvert the 2020 election results is no more.  U.S. District Judge Tanya … Read more   What Others are Reading  Opinions related to tech submitted to The Hill: Can Blue Origin and Rocket Lab ever compete against SpaceX? How Trump can cut the regulatory red tape to launch rockets — and companies      You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!  Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Technology newsletter Subscribe