It sounds like a bad joke. Bluesky, the Onion, and Project Liberty walk into a bar.
But at SXSW, the tech and film festival held in Austin this weekend, the three organizations did just that, hosting one of the conference’s most absurd and fun parties. The festivities took place Saturday evening at Outer Heaven, a quirky dive bar with a sequin facade and a neon sign. Hugh Forrest, the co-president of SXW, even attended.
The partnership might seem random, but the companies bonded over their shared mission of taking down big tech, said Ben Collins, CEO of the Onion. “We’re all trying to be a light in the darkness, a non-s--ty thing in a s--tty world.”
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Bluesky is the social media platform alternative to X that has gained 15 million users since President Trump’s election in November. (As Elon Musk, the owner of X, attached himself to Trump 115,000 people left the platform after Election Day.)
The Onion is the satirical publication that brought back its print newspaper in August to show the world that print, not digital, is the future of media. The February edition was dispersed all over the bar on Saturday (including inside a vintage claw arcade game) showing off the headline, “Trump Administration Offers Free At-Home Loyalty Tests.” (Another headline was US Military Bans Men with Girl Names from Combat: Wars will no longer be fought by male Shannons, Terrys, or Carmens.)
Project Liberty is owned by billionaire Frank McCourt that aims to give people more control over their digital lives. The organization is most famous for being the only group to submit a bid to buy TikTok after the Supreme Court upheld a congressional law saying the Chinese owners of the social media platform must sell or face closure in the United States.
While McCourt was at SXSW speaking on a panel he did not make it to his own party. His team was there, however, and he helped bankroll the shindig. There was an open bar for four hours as well as a table of fancy chips that could be dipped in hot sauce or caviar.
The party’s name was “Good Party for Bad Times,” and there were reminders throughout the night about the evils of big tech.
Attendees filled out forms that said, “Feed us your data. We’ll use it as we wish” that asked for the street you grew up on, your first pet’s name, and your full credit card number (a staff member explained, laughing, that they will be giving out the forms to random people as they left the party to further share your data.)
Bartenders paraded a light-up sign that said “We need your data” through the venue and the claw machine was rebranded to say “Claw Your Data Back. See what data Big Tech has on YOU. Free your feeds and own your algorithm.”
But the most anti-big-tech part of the evening, said Collins, was that people actually had to interact in real life rather than online (indeed, they were dancing to ’90s hits from 5 p.m. onwards.)
“Our goal was to bring as many online people together in a room as possible and force them to socialize in real life,” he said. “They have to talk.”
