Everyone is looking for a way out of the digital wreckage of old social media. You’ve probably seen the little blue butterfly icons popping up everywhere. It feels like a fresh start, right? But when people start moving their digital lives to a new platform, the first question they usually ask—and they should—is: "Wait, who actually owns this thing?"
If you're looking for a single billionaire to point your finger at, you’re going to be disappointed. Or maybe relieved.
Bluesky Social isn't owned by Elon Musk. It isn't owned by Mark Zuckerberg. It isn't even technically owned by Jack Dorsey anymore, despite what a lot of people still think. The story of the blue sky social owner is actually a bit of a corporate soap opera involving a "Public Benefit Corporation," a messy breakup with Twitter, and a radical idea that social media shouldn't be a kingdom at all.
The Jack Dorsey Disconnect
Let's clear the air on Jack. Honestly, the most common misconception about the blue sky social owner is that Jack Dorsey still runs the show. He doesn't.
Back in 2019, while he was still the CEO of Twitter, Jack announced a small, independent project. He wanted to create an "open and decentralized standard for social media." He called it Bluesky. At the time, it was basically an internal Twitter R&D department. Twitter paid the bills. Jack provided the vision.
But then things got weird.
Twitter changed hands in 2022. When Elon Musk walked into the building with a literal sink, the relationship between Twitter and Bluesky was severed. Bluesky had already become its own independent entity—a Public Benefit Corporation—before the deal closed.
Jack stayed on the board for a while, acting as a sort of spiritual godfather to the project. Then, in May 2024, he quietly left the board. He even went as far as to call the platform "literally a repeat of all the mistakes [Twitter] made." He's currently off promoting his own decentralized interests, like Nostr.
So, if Jack is gone, who's left holding the keys?
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Jay Graber and the PBC Structure
The person actually steering the ship is Jay Graber. She's the CEO.
Before she took over Bluesky, Jay was a developer who worked on Zcash (a privacy-focused cryptocurrency) and founded a site called Happening. She was handpicked by the original team to lead this experiment.
But here is the kicker: Bluesky is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC).
That’s not just a fancy label. In the world of business, being a PBC means the company is legally allowed to prioritize its mission—building an open protocol—over squeezing every last cent out of its users for shareholders. Most tech companies are "C-Corps," which means they have a fiduciary duty to maximize profit. If they don't, shareholders can sue them. Bluesky's structure gives them a legal shield to say, "No, we're not going to ruin the user experience with intrusive ads because that goes against our charter."
Jay Graber owns a stake. The employees own stakes. But the "owner" isn't a single person. It’s a group of investors and the people who build it.
Who funded this thing?
If you want to follow the money, you have to look at the venture capital. In July 2023, Bluesky announced a $8 million seed round. In late 2024, they followed up with a Series A.
Some of the names involved:
- Neo, a firm led by Ali Partovi.
- Blockchain Capital.
- Alumni Ventures.
- True Ventures.
These are the people who put up the cash. Does that make them the blue sky social owner? In a traditional sense, they own a piece of the equity. But they don't "own" the network in the way we're used to.
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The Protocol vs. The App
This is where it gets technical, but stick with me because it’s why the ownership question is so different here.
Bluesky is built on something called the AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol). Think of the AT Protocol like the foundation of a house. Bluesky, the app you download on your iPhone, is just the furniture and the paint on the walls.
The goal of the Bluesky team is to make the foundation so solid that other people can build their own houses on it.
If you hate the way Jay Graber runs the Bluesky app, you could—in theory—move your entire profile, your followers, and your posts to a totally different app built on the same protocol. You wouldn't lose your "social capital." This is called "portability."
Because of this, the blue sky social owner is more like a landlord of one building on a street, rather than the owner of the entire city. They can control their building, but they can't stop you from moving next door.
Why Does This Ownership Model Matter?
We’ve seen what happens when one person has total control. We saw it with MySpace (Tom, we miss you), we saw it with Facebook, and we’re seeing it with X. When a single owner gets bored, goes broke, or changes their political views, the entire ecosystem shifts.
Bluesky is trying to bake "anti-capture" into its DNA.
They don't want a "benevolent dictator." By making the company a PBC and the technology open-source, they are trying to prevent a future where a new billionaire can just buy the company and flip the "evil" switch.
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Of course, critics have their doubts. Skeptics point out that as long as Bluesky PBC controls the main servers (the "relays"), they still have a massive amount of centralized power. If the PBC goes under, or if the VCs demand a return on their investment, things could get ugly.
But for now, the ownership is distributed among:
- The Management Team (Jay Graber and others).
- The Investors (Neo, etc.).
- The Protocol (Which is open to everyone).
Practical Steps for the Curious User
If you're nervous about who owns your data and your digital reach, you don't have to just take their word for it. You can actually use the decentralized nature of the platform to your advantage right now.
Check your data portability.
Don't just post into the void. Look into tools like "SkyBridge" or explore the settings in the app that allow you to see your PDS (Personal Data Server) info. The whole point of Bluesky is that you aren't "locked in."
Understand the "Feeds."
One of the coolest things about the way Bluesky is owned and operated is that they don't force a single algorithm on you. You can choose your own. Go to the "Feeds" tab. Search for "Mutuals" or "Science" or "Art." You are taking control away from the "owner" and putting it back in your own hands.
Follow the developers, not just the brand.
Keep an eye on Jay Graber (@jay.bsky.team) and the official @bsky.app account. They are surprisingly transparent about their funding and their board structure. When things change—like when Jack Dorsey left—they usually talk about it openly.
Diversify your presence.
Even though Bluesky is a huge leap forward in terms of ownership transparency, never put all your eggs in one basket. Use the "butterfly" app, but keep your own website or a mailing list. The ultimate owner of your online identity should be you.
Bluesky is an experiment. It's a bet that we can have a social network that isn't a fiefdom. Whether that bet pays off depends on whether the PBC can stay independent while the VCs are knocking on the door for their profit.
Keep your eyes on the board meetings and the protocol updates. That's where the real power lies.