Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is stepping down from his leadership role and transitioning to a new role as chief innovation officer, the company announced Monday.
Graber, who helped develop competitor X and Threads 43 million users and continued the development of its underlying AT protocol, will be replaced by Toni Schneider as interim CEO. Schneider is the former CEO of Automattic and a partner at True Ventures
Both Automattic and True Ventures are investors at Blue Sky.
In a blog post announcing In the face of change, Graber explained that as a more mature company, Bluesky needs a “seasoned operator focused on scaling and execution.” Graber said she felt better able to develop the Bluesky technology herself.
“I am most energized by exploring new ideas, bringing a vision to life and helping people discover their strengths. Transitioning to a more focused role where I can do what brings me energy is my way of putting that belief into practice,” Graber said.
The company said its board would search for a permanent chief executive. Meanwhile, Schneider’s experience with Automattic, which commercialized WordPress’s open source technology through WordPress.com, allows him to understand the challenges of balancing open source technology with a company’s needs to generate profits.
Under Graber, Bluesky has seen remarkable growth at times, particularly after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now X, which led to a number of changes to the platform’s product and community. Bluesky also has struggle with moderation problems as it evolved. Some users expected the company to apply greater pressure, while Bluesky encouraged the use of moderation tools that users themselves could manage.
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The company now faces a new challenge: complying with a growing number of age protection laws regarding social media. One such law in Mississippi led Bluesky to choose to completely block the state. Other state laws, like those of Ohio, South Dakota and Wyomingforced the company to start age verification. For someone interested in creating a new protocol for social media, these compliance battles are arguably less fun.
In his blog postSchneider touted the company’s growth with more than 40 million users and an ecosystem of more than 500 active applications. He said the focus would now be on the next phase of growth, which includes enabling third-party builders to thrive. During this transition, Schneider will also remain active in his role at True Ventures.
“Bluesky has solved a case that has confounded the industry for years: how to create a social network that offers the best of both worlds. The personal freedom and ownership that comes from being part of an open network and the immediacy and ease of use that people expect from modern social services,” Schneider wrote.
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