In a surprising turn of events, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has stepped down from the board of Bluesky, the decentralized social media platform he backed.
What Happened: Bluesky confirmed Dorsey’s departure in two posts on Sunday, expressing gratitude toward Dorsey and announcing its search for a new board member who shares its vision of a user-controlled social network.
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Bluesky’s announcement came a day after Dorsey, in response to a user’s query on X, formerly Twitter, replied “no” to being on the company’s board. TechCrunch noted this first and pointed out Dorsey’s recent activity on X, where he unfollowed all but three accounts and praised X, which was acquired by Elon Musk in 2022, as “freedom technology.”
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Neither Bluesky nor Dorsey has disclosed the reasons for his departure. The current board members are CEO Jay Graeber and Jabber/XMPP inventor Jeremie Miller.
Dorsey initially supported Bluesky in 2019 as a project to create an open-source social media standard for Twitter. He joined the board when Bluesky separated from Twitter in 2022. However, Dorsey’s involvement with the company has been minimal.
In March 2024, Graeber stated in an interview that Dorsey provided occasional feedback but was otherwise “being Jack Dorsey on a cloud.”
Why It Matters: Dorsey’s departure from Bluesky comes amidst ongoing controversy surrounding his other venture, Block. Federal authorities are investigating Block’s cryptocurrency operations over alleged sanctions violations. These allegations have prompted a closer examination of the company’s compliance standards.
During Block’s first-quarter earnings call, Dorsey addressed the potential Department of Justice investigation, stating that the company had proactively investigated potential threats in 2022, leading to a thorough review of transactions possibly linked to sanctioned countries.
“As it relates to preventing tariffs financing via Bitcoin, we have a robust control environment in place to mitigate exposure from adversaries,” he stated then.
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