Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is stepping down

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step down from his top leadership role and move into a new role as chief innovation officer, the company announced Monday.

Graber, who helped grow competitor X and Threads to 43 million users and boosted development of its core AT protocol, will be replaced by Tony Schneider as interim CEO. Schneider is the former CEO of Automattic and a partner at True Ventures

Both Automattic and True Ventures are investors in Bluesky.

In a blog post announcing the changes, Graber explained that Bluesky, as a more mature company, needed an “experienced operator focused on expansion and execution.” Graber said she feels better suited to building Bluesky’s technology itself.

“What energizes me most is exploring new ideas, bringing a vision to life, and helping people discover their strengths,” Graber said. “Moving into a more focused role where I can do what energizes me is my way of putting that belief into action.”

The company said its board of directors will search for a permanent CEO. Meanwhile, Schneider’s experience with Automattic, which commercializes open source WordPress technology through WordPress.com, enables him to understand the challenges that come with balancing open source technology with the company’s needs to make a profit.

Under Graber’s leadership, Bluesky has seen remarkable growth at times, especially after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now X, which led to a number of changes to the platform’s product and community. Bluesky has also suffered from moderation issues as it has expanded. Some users expected the company to apply a tougher hand, while Bluesky touted the use of moderation tools that users can manage themselves.

The company now faces a new challenge: complying with a growing number of age-safety laws around social media. One such law in Mississippi led Plosky to choose to ban the entire state. Other state laws, such as those in Ohio, South Dakota and Wyoming, have forced the company to begin age verification. For someone interested in building a new social networking protocol, these compliance battles are arguably less fun.

On his blog, Schneider touted the company’s growth to more than 40 million users and an ecosystem of more than 500 active apps. He said the focus now will be on the next phase of growth, which includes allowing offshore construction companies to flourish. During this transition period, Schneider will remain active in his role at True Ventures as well.

“Bluesky has solved an issue that has puzzled the industry for years: how to create a social network that has the best of both worlds,” Schneider wrote. “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.”