Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is stepping down from her leadership role and transitioning to become the company’s chief innovation officer. Graber, who helped grow the competitor to X and Threads to 43 million users and advanced its underlying AT Protocol, will be replaced by interim CEO Toni Schneider. Schneider is the former CEO of Automattic and a partner at True Ventures, both of which are investors in Bluesky.
In a blog post announcing the changes, Graber explained that as Bluesky has matured, it now requires a seasoned operator focused on scaling and execution. She stated that she is better suited to building the company’s core technology. Graber said she is most energized by exploring new ideas and bringing a vision to life, and that moving to a more focused role allows her to put that belief into practice.
The company’s board will now search for a permanent chief executive. In the interim, Schneider’s experience commercializing open source technology at Automattic positions him to understand the challenge of balancing open source principles with a company’s need to generate profit.
Under Graber’s leadership, Bluesky experienced remarkable growth, particularly following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. The platform has also faced moderation challenges as it scaled, with debates over how heavily to intervene in content versus providing user-managed moderation tools.
Now, the company is navigating new challenges presented by age assurance laws for social media. A law in Mississippi led Bluesky to block service in the state entirely. Other state laws, like those in Ohio, South Dakota, and Wyoming, have forced the company to begin age verification processes. These compliance requirements represent a less engaging frontier for someone focused on building new social networking protocols.
In his own blog post, Schneider highlighted the company’s growth to over 40 million users and an ecosystem of more than 500 active apps. He said the focus will now be on the next phase of growth, which includes enabling third-party builders to thrive. During this transition, Schneider will remain active in his role at True Ventures. He wrote that Bluesky has solved a long-standing industry puzzle by creating a social network that combines the personal freedom of an open network with the immediacy and ease of use expected from modern social services.