Almost three years after the concept was initially suggested in 2019, Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky has finally presented their decentralized protocol designed to restrict the influence of governments and corporations on key social media networks. Also, Bluesky Social has released a new app as part of their decentralized alternative to Twitter, a platform Dorsey also founded and was CEO of until his departure last year.
The protocol was formerly known as “ADX,” but its name has now been changed to “Authenticated Transfer Protocol,” also known as the “AT Protocol”. It is positioned as a protocol for large-scale distributed social applications and promises to facilitate account portability, algorithmic choice, interoperability, and performance, as said by the company.
In their words:
“There’s no one company that can decide what gets published; instead there is a marketplace of companies deciding what to carry to their audiences.”
A waitlist has also been started for the Bluesky app, which the Bluesky team is marketing as the browser of choice for accessing the AT Protocol network. The waitlist needed assistance from a third party since it was filled up so rapidly.
Additionally, the protocol will set itself apart by promising increased security for user information. This will be ensured by the algorithms that will be built. “Algorithms dictate what we see and who we can reach. We must have control over our algorithms if we are to trust our online spaces.”
Formerly, Bluesky defined its content moderation methodology as taking place in several tiers across the system. These tiers include aggregation algorithms, thresholds based on reputation, and the decision made by end users. The company has created a system called Lexicon that would allow for communication between AT Protocol-based applications and networks.
