Honestly, most of the internet is currently owned by about five guys. You know the ones. They decide what you see, who you can talk to, and when your entire digital identity gets deleted because of an algorithm glitch or a change in corporate mood.
It’s exhausting.
But there’s this 34-year-old software engineer named Jay Graber who thinks that whole model is basically a historical mistake. As the CEO of Bluesky, she isn't just trying to build another "Twitter clone." She's trying to build a world where you actually own your own data.
Lantian "Jay" Graber was born in 1991 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her name, Lantian, literally means "blue sky" in Mandarin. Her mom, a Chinese acupuncturist, gave it to her as a wish for "boundless freedom." It’s a bit of a cosmic coincidence considering she ended up leading a company with the same name, but it fits the vibe.
Why Jay Graber Is Not Your Typical Tech Bro
Graber didn't spend her twenties networking at Ivy League mixers or pitching VCs in fleece vests. She was deep in the trenches of decentralized tech long before it was trendy.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Science, Technology, and Society, she took a job in a factory in Moses Lake, Washington. She wasn't managing the floor. She was soldering Bitcoin mining equipment.
Think about that for a second.
Most CEOs spend their early years in spreadsheets. Graber spent hers with a soldering iron in her hand, physically building the infrastructure of a decentralized world.
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Later, she became a developer for Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency. This is where she really started to see the potential for systems that don't need a "middleman" to function. By the time Jack Dorsey—then the CEO of Twitter—started looking for someone to lead an experimental project called "Bluesky" in 2019, Graber was already an expert in the field.
The Breakup With Twitter
People often forget that Bluesky started as a research project inside Twitter.
It was Dorsey’s "hail mary" to fix the platform he helped create. He knew that centralized moderation couldn't scale forever. He saw the outrage-driven algorithms and hated what they were doing to the world.
Graber was brought in as an external researcher first. She eventually convinced the Twitter board to make Bluesky an independent Public Benefit Corporation. That was a massive power move.
When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, Bluesky was already out the door. They were independent. They had their own funding. They had their own mission. While the "big bird" site was being rebranded to X, Graber was busy building the AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol).
What Really Happened With the AT Protocol
If you want to understand Graber’s vision, you have to understand "the protocol." Basically, she wants social media to work like email.
If you use Gmail, you can still send an email to someone using Outlook or Yahoo. You own your address. You can move your messages.
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Current social media is a walled garden. If you leave Facebook, you lose your friends, your photos, and your history. Graber thinks that's garbage.
The AT Protocol is designed to let you "switch servers" without losing your identity. You could, in theory, leave the Bluesky app but keep your followers and your handle. It’s about account portability.
Why Graber Wore a "Mundus Sine Caesaribus" Shirt
At SXSW 2025, Graber made headlines by wearing a shirt that read Mundus sine Caesaribus—Latin for "A world without Caesars."
It was a direct shot at Mark Zuckerberg, who had recently been seen in a shirt that said "Zuck or nothing."
She wasn't just being "kinda" petty. It was a statement of philosophy.
Graber’s whole point is that we shouldn't have digital emperors. We shouldn't rely on the whims of a single billionaire to decide the rules of global conversation. "If a billionaire tried to ruin things," she told the crowd at SXSW, "users could just leave—without losing their identity or data."
That is a radical idea in 2026.
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The "Small Team" Reality
Despite the massive growth—Bluesky hit over 40 million users recently—the team is still tiny. We're talking about roughly 30 to 40 people.
Compare that to the thousands of employees at Meta or the remaining skeleton crew at X.
Graber has admitted that this "tiny team" approach makes things hard. When new laws come out regarding age verification or data privacy, they can't just throw 10,000 lawyers at the problem. They have to be smarter.
They use "stackable" moderation. This means users can subscribe to different moderation services. Don't like how Bluesky moderates? You can literally "plug in" a different filter created by a community you trust.
It's "pick your own adventure" for the internet.
Actionable Insights for the New Web
If you're following Graber's trajectory or looking to move your digital life over to the decentralized side, here's the reality:
- Your domain is your handle. One of the smartest things Graber did was allow users to use their own website domains as their usernames (like @name.com). This is the ultimate verification. It means you own your name, not the platform.
- Feeds are a choice. On Bluesky, you aren't stuck with one "For You" algorithm. You can browse a marketplace of custom feeds. You can find a feed that only shows you photos of moss, or one that only shows you posts from journalists.
- The "Nuclear Block" is real. Graber’s team pioneered a version of blocking that actually works. When you block someone, they disappear from your experience entirely, and they can't use your posts to gain clout or harass you.
Graber isn't trying to be the next celebrity CEO. She rarely does the "look at me" press tours that other tech founders love. She's a coder at heart. She’s someone who knows how to solder, how to encrypt, and how to build systems that are designed to outlast her own leadership.
The internet is changing. Whether Bluesky becomes the "winner" doesn't actually matter to Graber as much as whether the AT Protocol succeeds. If she wins, the era of the "Social Media Caesar" might finally be coming to an end.
To get started with this new era, your first move should be securing a custom domain for your profile. It’s the only way to ensure that if the platform changes, your identity stays yours.