Bluesky and Jay Graber’s Vision for Decentralized, User-Centric Social Media

As social media platforms like X and Facebook continue to stir debate over content moderation, algorithmic bias, and political influence, an alternative model is gaining ground — one that’s decentralized, community-driven, and led by an unlikely tech founder. That platform is Bluesky, and at the helm is CEO Jay Graber, a former blockchain engineer turned social media visionary.

In a detailed New Yorker profile, Graber and her team reveal what sets Bluesky apart from traditional social media giants — and why more users are migrating to platforms that put control back into their own hands.

Following the 2024 U.S. presidential election and Elon Musk’s growing entanglement in national politics, Bluesky saw a dramatic increase in signups. Musk’s continued influence over X — from manipulating its algorithms to favor his posts, to backing political candidates — triggered concern across the digital world.

Graber, who relocated from Seattle to San Francisco during the post-election surge, worked alongside her small 20-person team to keep up with the demand. Within weeks, Bluesky’s user base doubled, passing 30 million users. Engineers worked in shifts to maintain server stability. For many users, Bluesky became a much-needed escape from what they perceived as a toxic online environment.

What makes Bluesky fundamentally different is its decentralized architecture. Built on the AT Protocol, Bluesky allows users to own their identities, data, and even the algorithms that determine their feed. Unlike X or Facebook, where all decisions — from content moderation to algorithmic tweaks — are made behind closed doors by corporations, Bluesky gives individuals the tools to customize their experience or even leave the platform entirely without losing their followers or posts.

Graber, whose background includes a blend of coding, activism, and creative experimentation, sees this as a vital shift in how social media can — and should — work. “Do we want to live in a world ruled by self-styled tech monarchs?” she asks, referencing Musk’s near-total control of X. Her answer is a platform where users, not CEOs, set the rules.

Unlike many of her tech peers, Graber has deliberately distanced herself from Silicon Valley’s typical playbook. She prefers her Seattle base for its distance — both culturally and geographically — from the Bay Area’s tech scene. Her style blends intellect with accessibility; she’s as comfortable discussing decentralized protocols as she is fencing with padded swords in the Bluesky office during downtime.

Graber’s leadership style is rooted in community and open systems. From day one, she emphasized that Bluesky would not become another corporate giant beholden to investors. Even now, its primary revenue stream is from domain hosting and early-stage subscriptions — a conscious deviation from the ad-driven models that dominate social media.

Bluesky is still small compared to its competitors — X boasts over 500 million monthly users, and Meta’s Threads reportedly has over 300 million. Yet its impact is outsized thanks to its novel approach and active community of journalists, artists, academics, and digital rights advocates.

Critics argue that Bluesky’s curated moderation and niche appeal might hinder its growth. But Graber sees that as a strength, not a weakness. The platform’s "My Feeds" feature lets users choose algorithmic filters built by others, making it possible to opt out of the content they don’t want to see — and create the kind of online experience they actually want.

Perhaps the most radical idea behind Bluesky is that it's designed to be exitable. If a user decides they want to leave Bluesky and move to another platform running on the same protocol, they can — with their followers, data, and posts intact.

As Graber put it, “Every centralized system faces the problem of succession. But if users can take their digital identity and relationships elsewhere, they can vote with their feet.”

That ethos of empowered migration may not only make Bluesky more resilient — it may offer a blueprint for the future of the internet.