Yes, it is specific to Bluesky. It is not dependent on the official app, though: Both the app and the website are subject to this kind of censorship.

There seem to be loopholes [1] through some third-party apps, but that does not change much about the overall problem. Defaults matter a lot.

I have a hard time understanding why the Bluesky authors came up with an idea like that in the first place. Not to mention actually creating it. The internet (or social media) probably does not benefit from even more granular censorship tools for governments all over the world.

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/23/government-censorship-come...