Bluesky CEO's Latin Message: Building a Billionaire-Proof Social Media Future
Jay Graber at SXSW 2025, wearing a shirt with "mundus sine caesaribus" — Latin for "a world without Caesars."
In a powerful statement at SXSW 2025, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber appeared wearing a shirt with "mundus sine caesaribus" — Latin for "a world without Caesars." This deliberate fashion choice was a direct response to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent "aut Zuck aut nihil" ("either Zuck or nothing") shirt, perfectly capturing the philosophical divide between traditional social platforms and Bluesky's open-source vision.
Built on decentralized architecture, Bluesky offers something different in today's social media landscape: genuine user sovereignty. "If a billionaire came in and bought Bluesky and took it over, or I decided tomorrow to change things in a way that people didn't really like, then they could fork off and go on to other applications," Graber explained. This "fork-ability" — the ability for users to take their followers, data, and network elsewhere if they disagree with platform changes — represents a fundamental power shift away from platform owners.
The rapidly growing platform (30+ million users) stands in contrast to billionaire-controlled networks like X and Threads. Bluesky's open network extends to collaborations with other applications like Flashes, an Instagram-style photo-sharing platform, allowing users to share content across different apps while maintaining control over their digital presence.
While traditional platforms harvest user data to feed AI models, Bluesky is developing frameworks that would give users control over how their content is used.
As users increasingly seek alternatives to billionaire-controlled platforms, Bluesky's open-source model represents a future where social media power rests with users rather than CEOs — a true "world without Caesars."
Image Credits: SxSW on YouTube
Watch the full interview here.
