Skip to main content

As Elon Musk finalized his Twitter deal, Jack Dorsey launched a beta for his new social-media company

Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk.
Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk.
  • Jack Dorsey's decentralized social-media platform, Bluesky Social, is now accepting beta users.
  • The news coincides with Musk's takeover of Twitter, which Dorsey founded and ran for several years.
  • Dorsey left Twitter in 2021 and named Parag Agrawal, whom Musk quickly fired, as his successor.

Just as Elon Musk was finalizing his purchase of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, the company's founder and former CEO, announced a beta for a new social-media company.

Dorsey's blockchain-based Bluesky Social announced last Tuesday that it's launching soon and is currently enlisting users for beta testing. The initial news drew 30,000 sign-ups within two days, company representatives said. Users can still sign up to join the app to become a beta user before the platform is publicly available.

Bluesky's website said it's intended to support "a new foundation for social networking which gives creators independence from platforms, developers the freedom to build, and users a choice in their experience." According to Gizmodo, one of its Bluesky's main selling points is that its technology — which it calls "AT Protocol" — will give users control of their algorithms.

Dorsey had said in 2019 that Twitter was funding work into developing "an open and decentralized standard for social media."

In private text messages between Dorsey and Musk that became public in the course of Musk and Twitter's months-long legal saga, Dorsey said, "A new platform is needed. It can't be a company. That's why I left." He went on to say Twitter should have an "open-sourced protocol" similar to the encrypted-messaging app Signal, adding that Twitter "can't have an advertising model."

Dorsey cofounded Twitter in 2006 and had several years-long stints as CEO, most recently from 2015 to November of 2021, when he stepped down. Parag Agrawal, who was then chief technology officer of the company, replaced him. Shortly after taking over Twitter this week, Musk fired Agrawal, as well as Ned Segal, the chief financial officer; Vijaya Gadde, the legal chief; and Sean Edgett, the general counsel.

Musk reportedly fired them "for cause" to avoid having to pay severance payments and unvested stock awards, a person familiar with the matter told The Information.

Read the original article on Business Insider


from Business Insider https://ift.tt/QlYhRmG
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Instagram accidentally reinstated Pornhub’s banned account

After years of on-and-off temporary suspensions, Instagram permanently banned Pornhub’s account in September. Then, for a short period of time this weekend, the account was reinstated. By Tuesday, it was permanently banned again. “This was done in error,” an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As we’ve said previously, we permanently disabled this Instagram account for repeatedly violating our policies.” Instagram’s content guidelines prohibit  nudity and sexual solicitation . A Pornhub spokesperson told TechCrunch, though, that they believe the adult streaming platform’s account did not violate any guidelines. Instagram has not commented on the exact reasoning for the ban, or which policies the account violated. It’s worrying from a moderation perspective if a permanently banned Instagram account can accidentally get switched back on. Pornhub told TechCrunch that its account even received a notice from Instagram, stating that its ban had been a mistake (that message itself w

Colorado police identified the serial killer who murdered 4 women 40 years ago after exhuming his body to analyze a DNA sample

A scientist examines computer images of DNA models. Getty Images Police in Colorado have cracked the cold cases of four women killed 40 years ago. Denver PD said genetic genealogy and DNA analysis helped them identify the serial killer. He had died by suicide in jail in 1981. DNA from his exhumed body matched evidence from the murders. Police in Colorado have cracked the code on four murder cases that went unsolved for 40 years, using DNA from the killer's exhumed body. The cases pertain to four women killed in the Denver metro area between 1978 and 1981. They were 33-year-old Madeleine Furey-Livaudais, 53-year-old Dolores Barajas, 27-year-old Gwendolyn Harris, and 17-year-old Antoinette Parks. The four women were stabbed to death. Denver Police Commander Matt Clark said in a press conference Friday that there was an "underlying sexual component" to the murders but didn't elaborate further. In 2009, a detective reviewed Parks' case and picked several p

Axeleo Capital raises $51 million fund

Axeleo Capital has raised a $51 million fund (€45 million). Axeleo first started with an accelerator focused on enterprise startups. The firm is now all grown up with an acceleration program and a full-fledged VC fund. The accelerator is now called Axeleo Scale , while the fund is called Axeleo Capital . And it’s important to mention both parts of the business as they work hand in hand. Axeleo picks up around 10 startups per year and help them reach the Series A stage. If they’re doing well over the 12 to 18 months of the program, Axeleo funds those startups using its VC fund. Limited partners behind the company’s first fund include Bpifrance through the French Tech Accélération program, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Vinci Energies, Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Caisse d’Épargne Rhône-Alpes as well as various business angels and family offices. The firm is also partnering with Hi Inov, the holding company of the Dentressangle family. Axeleo will take care of the early stage in