Bluesky's Decentralized Social Network

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber made a statement at SXSW 2025 by wearing a T-shirt with a Latin phrase 'Mundus sine caesaribus' meaning 'a world without Caesars'. This was a subtle yet clear swipe at Mark Zuckerberg, who has compared himself to Julius Caesar. Graber's move highlights the differences between Bluesky and Meta, with Bluesky focusing on decentralization and transparency.

Bluesky's platform is built on an open-source framework, allowing users to have a direct and transparent view of how the platform is being built. If a billionaire were to buy or take over Bluesky, users could 'fork off' and create a new application, ensuring that the network remains open and decentralized.

Meta, on the other hand, has faced criticism for altering user experiences and alienating users with controversial updates. Bluesky has benefited from Meta's mistakes, experiencing bursts of user growth after Meta pushed updates like training its AI on public user posts and culling its third-party fact-checking programs.

While Bluesky still has a long way to go to topple Meta's dominance, with 33 million total users compared to Meta's 3.35 billion daily active users, Graber's platform has created a significant cultural footprint and is likely to stick around.