Jack Dorsey criticizes Bluesky for straying from decentralized ethos

There’s
always
one
or
more
reasons
behind
a
company
board
member’s
departure.
With
Jack
Dorsey
and
Bluesky,
it’s
all
about
direction.
Speaking
with

Pirates
Wires
this
week,
Bluesky’s
inventor
said
the
company
is
straying
from
its
original
decentralized
ethos
and
resembling
a
conventional
social
media
app,
the
type
of
app
he
intended
to
avoid
at
the
beginning.

“This
is
literally
repeating
all
the
mistakes
we
made
as
a
company.
This
is
not
a
protocol
that’s
truly
decentralized.
It’s
another
app.
It’s
another
app
that’s
just
kind
of
following
in
Twitter’s
footsteps,
but
for
a
different
part
of
the
population,”
Dorsey
stated.

Dorsey’s
initial
vision
for
Bluesky
was
to
create
a
social
media
protocol
that
could
overcome
the
challenges
faced
by
centralized
platforms,
such
as
those
he
encountered
at
Twitter
(now
X).
He
expected
that
Bluesky
would
support
free
speech
and
not
be
beholden
to
the
constraints
of
a
publicly
traded
company
dependent
on
advertising
revenue.

However,
as
Bluesky
developed,
it
began
incorporating
more
traditional
corporate
elements,
including
forming
a
board
and
seeking
venture
capital
funding.
For
a
person
deeply
committed
to
decentralization,
it’s
a
clear
departure
from
his
original
goals
for
the
project.

“Everything
we
wanted
around
decentralization,
everything
we
wanted
in
terms
of
an
[open-source]
protocol,
suddenly
became
a
company
with
VCs
and
a
board.
That’s
not
what
I
wanted,
that’s
not
what
I
intended
to
help
create,”
Dorsey
remarked.

According
to
him,
this
shift,
combined
with
a
growing
emphasis
on
app
development
and
moderation
tools,
moved
Bluesky
away
from
being
a
truly
decentralized
protocol.

Commenting
on
the
public
perception
of
Bluesky
as
“anti-Twitter,”
Dorsey
said
it
was
not
the
foundational
intention.
Bluesky
was
meant
to
be
a
neutral
protocol
rather
than
a
direct
competitor.

Dorsey
also
noted
the
limitations
of
the
advertising-based
revenue
model
for
social
media
platforms,
which
he
believes
compromises
content
policies
and
platform
governance.
He
suggests
alternative
revenue
streams,
such
as
subscriptions
and
commerce,
could
provide
a
more
sustainable
and
less
compromising
approach.

Earlier
this
week,
the
team
behind
Bluesky
announced
that
Dorsey
was

no
longer
on
the
board
of
directors.
At
the
time,
neither
Dorsey
nor
Bluesky
commented
publicly
on
the
departure.

After
leaving
Bluesky,
Dorsey
has
turned
his
attention
to
Nostr,
a
protocol
he
considers
a
more
accurate
reflection
of
his
decentralized
social
media
aspirations,
operating
without
a
central
authority
or
corporate
structure.