It appears that Bluesky’s most important backer is no longer on its board.
On Saturday, Jack Dorsey posted on X about open protocol grants from his Start Small philanthropic initiative. That prompted someone to ask Dorsey if he was still on Bluesky’s board, too he responded with a simple “no”. Dorsey did not respond to any of the subsequent posts asking him to explain his departure.
It’s unclear when Dorsey left the board. from sunday morning Bluesky Corporate FAQ it still identifies him as a board member. We have contacted the company for confirmation.
Modernize: Bluesky has released the following statement:
Sincere thanks to Jack for helping fund and start the bluesky project. Today, Bluesky thrives as an open source social network running on atproto, the decentralized protocol we built.
With Jack’s departure, we’re looking for a new board member for utility company Bluesky who shares our commitment to building a social network that puts people in control of their experience. More to come!
Dorsey Bluesky first announced in 2019, when he was still CEO of Twitter. He wrote that Twitter (now X) was “funding a small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media.”
Since then, Bluesky has become an independent utility, led by CEO Jay Graber, with VC backing, and went public in February.
Dorsey appears to have deleted his Bluesky account sometime last year, though his departure was acknowledged at the time only by accumulation of social media posts. (He also deleted his Instagram account.) Still, he persisted the longest name associated with the project.
Back at X, Dorsey had quite an active weekend. In addition to corporate news, it is also weighed in on the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, it beat almost every other billand was posted, “don’t rely on companies to grant you rights. defend yourself using freedom technology. (you’re in one)”
