What is BlueSky Social? Who owns Bluesky?

Bluesky is a social network built on the AT Protocol, an open protocol for social apps. The short version: it looks familiar if you have used Twitter/X, but the underlying idea is different. Bluesky is trying to make social media more portable, more customizable, and less dependent on one closed platform.

In the official Bluesky FAQ, Bluesky says it is designed so social media is not controlled by a single company. Users can choose feeds, developers can build apps on the protocol, and account identity can be more portable than on a normal closed network.

Who owns Bluesky? Bluesky Social is a Public Benefit Corporation. The same FAQ says Bluesky Social PBC is owned by Jay Graber and the Bluesky team. It also explains the Twitter relationship: the project was kicked off by Jack Dorsey when he was Twitter CEO in 2019, Bluesky became an independent company in 2021, and Twitter ended its service agreement with Bluesky in late 2022.

As of Bluesky's February 2026 FAQ update, Bluesky says it has over 42 million users. Bluesky's own description emphasizes three things:

1. Account portability, so your identity is less tied to one host.

2. Custom feeds, so you can choose different algorithms and topic timelines.

3. Composable moderation, so moderation can involve Bluesky, user controls, and community labelers.

If you are joining Bluesky from X, Threads, or Mastodon, the practical difference is this: Bluesky feels like a mainstream social app, but it is built around protocol-level openness and user choice. A good next step is to browse Bluesky starter packs so you can quickly find accounts in your topic area.