Bluesky wants us to imagine a 'world without Caesars'

In a world of billionare-owned social media, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber wants to send a clear message. Decentralized open-source platforms, like the one she runs, prioritize user control over corporate interests.

And what better way to say that than with a T-shirt that calls out Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg?

Speaking at SXSW 2025, Graber wore a shirt that read Mundus sine Caesaribus("A world without Caesars" in Latin). It used the same design as the one Zuckerberg wore at Meta Connect 2024, a now infamous shirt that read Aut Zuck aut nihil("Zuck or nothing").

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg wants to be like Augustus Caesar. How close is he?

"If a billionaire tried to ruin things," Graber said of Bluesky, "users could just leave — without losing their identity or data.” Bluesky’s open protocol gives users the ability to "fork off" the network if needed, Graber added.

Bluesky, originally spun out of Twitter, has grown to over 32 million users. Its AT Protocol allows users to own their identities and their experience on the platform without Bluesky's permission.

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"The key to what we’re doing is shifting power back to users and developers," Graber said. Bluesky isn’t just another social media app, she emphasized — it's a whole structural alternative to bigger platforms.

Graber drew a bright line between Bluesky and billionaire-owned social media in another key area: content moderation. Bluesky's opt-in approach lets users install third-party moderation services, filtering content to fit their preferences.

"Moderation is governance," Graber said. "It’s about choosing how you want your digital space to be governed.”

The Bluesky ecosystem includes apps from Flashes, a third-party photo-sharing service, to Flushing.im, a joke app for logging bathroom visits. "You can really build anything," Graber laughed.

Despite its ideals, Bluesky faces challenges. The company has said it is exploring subscription models, and developer services, in order to remain financially viable.

Graber remains optimistic that enough people want this service to keep it going in the long run. "We don’t think social media has to be inherently toxic," she said. "We want to give people real choice — not just a new platform, but a new paradigm."

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