Jack Dorsey, one of the most interesting and eccentric figures in the tech universe, returns to dust off his old obsession. That is Bluesky, the decentralized and libertarian social network already announced in 2019.
The founder and former CEO of Twitter, on Saturday 2 April, published a twitter of regret against the centralization of the Internet. And it is only the latest in a series of messages, or rather signals, which would suggest new ideas for the creation of Bluesky, a social platform with a democratic flavor.
Let’s find out what Dorsey’s tweet contained and take stock of the suggestive hypothesis of a “decentralized” network.
Jack Dorsey’s tweet from April 2nd
At 19.53 on April 2, the founder of Twitter therefore publishes an eloquent twitter. In which he writes that “the days of usenet, irc, the web… even e-mail (w PGP)… were fantastic. Centralizing discovery and identity in companies has really damaged the Internet ”. And he adds: “I realize I’m partly guilty and I regret it.”
The reference of the initial part of the message is to the first communication systems of the Net (irc stands for Inter Relay Chat), freer and less subjugated to the power of the giants of the tech sector.
The Dorsey-Musk exchange
Jack Dorsey’s tweet of April 2 was preceded by a twitter of March 25, in which Dorsey wrote: “The choice of which algorithm to use (or not) should be open to all”.
No less than Elon Musk had replied, showing a surprisingly libertarian attitude. Even more than that of the former Twitter patron. In fact, Musk not only wrote: “The Twitter algorithm should be open source”, but he also promoted a survey to that effect, right on the platform itself.
The voters were more than one million and one hundred thousand. And as many as 82.7% said yes: Twitter’s algorithm should be open source.
Bluesky
Jack Dorsey’s anarchic attitude prompted him to make bold choices. After Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump’s account in January of this year, Dorsey commented on the excessive power a single person has in public debate. Also speaking of a “dangerous precedent” for social media.
However on 11 December 2019, when he was still CEO of the company, Dorsey published a tweet in which for the first time he mentioned Bluesky, a decentralized social networkwhich would have been born just like Twitter’s rib.
As Dorsey wrote in December 2019: “Twitter is 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. The goal is that Twitter is ultimately a customer of this standard. “
So Bluesky, more than a social network, would be a protocol to which the various platforms could comply.
Libertarianism or Cryptovalute?
The most benevolent see in Bluesky a move perfectly consistent with the entrepreneuroften considered – with all the exaggerations of the case – a hippie.
Bluesky, social or protocol, would therefore have the task of eroding the superpower of big tech and creating a sort of bottom-up control of the platforms by users.
Others more pragmatic invite you to consider that Dorsey is also the founder of Square, a financial services company became Block because it opened to cryptocurrencies. And the idea of those who do not consider Jack Dorsey a hippie but a skilled businessman, is precisely the one that Bluesky will favor the circulation of cryptocurrencies.
An open system that crosses social networks
Regardless of what the final goal will be, Bluesky would concretize the idea of Blaine Cook, Canadian programmer who in 2008 was one of the founders of Twitter along with Dorsey.
Cook’s ambition was that of an open Twitter, where users could exchange messages using all existing platforms.
In short, the proposal of an open social network through Bluesky would be to create a decentralized standard of communication, which can be declined in all social networks. And so yes, the project certainly suggests a more libertarian or at least democratic vision of social media.
Then there is the economic aspect, which could be underestimated only by being naïve. Also because a few days ago, even if not explicitly, Jack Dorsey himself talked about it on Spaces (the Twitter version of Clubhouse, so to speak).
There Dorsey said: “If Bitcoin existed before Twitter, I think we would see very different revenue models – we wouldn’t be so addicted to the ad-only model.”