Twitter founder Jack Dorsey pumps $10 million into a nonprofit to build Nostr-based social media apps
Having fucked up social discourse with Twitter and then Bluesky, Jack Dorsey claims he has seen the error of his ways, and definitely won't do it a third time with his new nonprofit aimed at helping developers build and deploy (OSS or commercial) social media tech built on the Nostr platform (with AI!). Yeesh, I might be biased. Maybe I shouldn't be writing these summaries.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/16/jack-dorsey-backs-nonprofit-and-other-stuff-experimenting-with-open-social-tools-like-nostr/Open linkView original on piefed.social239
Comments61
Me reading this with a gold nose ring 😅
Me reading this with a hippie beard.
Me reading this not having heard a "no" since 2006.
If you tell that that's a hippie beard in my local metal bar... You might be politely corrected because we are awesome.
Also, punks and metalheads get beards and rings too.
Is it because of the Mel Gibson cosplay?
These guys are the ones who went to burning man when they were young and it was cool, but kept going, got old, and ruined it for the next generations.
Makes me sad as a member of the Oregon Gen who missed the heydays of that kind of stuff, but read all about it as it was in its prime.
Mel Gibson-looking ass
Jack Dorsey should just fucking stop.
Why is he so hated here? Twitter model is one thing that is kinda fit for global-open-decentralized approaches without much difference for the user. I could never use it, but plenty of people do and seem to have a feeling of hivemind over it.
Because the tech he makes is inherently terrible and despite being used in a positive way it is still centralized and ripe for misuse by people like Musk. On top of that the long term feasibility is based on advertising potential to get the funding.
He says positive stuff most of the time but his actions are the opposite. Blusky is supposed to be decentralized, but the structure as it exists requires it to actually be centralized when implemented. Plus his most recent 'secure' thing wasn't even tested for security issues because he is a hype man who constantly lies.
Figure head syndrome. Literally a man with money, otherwise completely unremarkable
Is "better than Zuck" a valid argument?
Not really, I have stepped in dogshit was better than Zuck.
Like it or not, Nostr is the only one that doesn't tie my identity to a server. I've lost several Lemmy accounts during the Reddit migration and I've had to subscribe to new instances all over again. Once it's down, really hard to migrate anything
This is the advantage of decentralization over federation. IMHO the fact that Lemmy is only federated really hurts it. Not so much for user accounts (in theory these can be backed up restored and moved. Not ideal but not awful) but in that communities are tied to servers. When the server a community is on goes away it is hugely damaging to that community.
lemm.ee leaving made me not want to use this as much and I had 6 different accounts, it was just the main
Hubzilla has successfully implemented portable identities for a number of years and i am surprised how its unheard of. Coupled with magic sign-on it has some of the craziest features that are much needed in the broader fediverse.
how is it compared to friendica, can you make dislikes not anonymous there too? that was the funniest feature
hubzilla is a fork of friendica, yes hubzilla shows all likes and dislikes and the names :D
Can you link me to the feature? Or at least tell me the name so that I can look it up?
Here are two resources that document these features:
https://hubzilla.org/help/member/clone
Thanks I'm interested on seeing how this handles things like likes
the hubzilla network and some other projects have this implemented and it works nicely, a person on hub1 can simply visit hub2 and interact (like comment etc.) since hub2 authenticates user with hub1 using this protocol. I am not a developer of this but it has been tested and used since a number of years.
I get that part. That sounds a of like the fediverse. But that cloning feature looks like you clone everything you do between many instances which is awesome, but I'm not sure how they could clone like counts. AFAIK they would either have to instruct the likers client to go like on the other instances, or trust the number reported by the OP
If someone likes my comment then my account relays that activity to the clones to keep them in sync.
There's also Polycentric from the FUTO peeps.
Dear Jack:
Please go back to playing with Square and leave the rest of us the fuck alone.
Thanks.
I feel like nonprofit should come with default quotations nowadays. At this point it's just a way to avoid taxation during development until you have a feasible route to profitability.
don't you avoid taxes anyway if you're not profitable?
Nah, you still end up paying state and local taxes. Income/revenue is different than profit.
Plus, being a non profit allows for people like Jack to utilize donations as tax deductions.
We need stronger rules for non profits then.
Looks like he and Zuck have the same stylist. Anyone know what this look is called, with the oversized tee and chain around his neck?
The word you’re looking for is douchebag
Techbro
But techbro 10 years ago was an undercut and a leather jacket. I'm hoping there's a label for this iteration.
Those were the web-techbros. Then came the crypto-techbros, now we have AI-techbros. Very different styles, as you can see.
All styles have some variation within them.
He looks like he’s turning into Mel Gibson.
Techno King Asshole. TKA for short.
the “i dress myself and everyone around me is too afraid to tell me it looks like shit”?
like counting his money!
Nostr really isn't about the platform, it's about the simple, platform-agnostic keypair setup that identifies you.
There was Secure Scuttblebutt, but it had issues that hindered adoption.
Nostr does actually seem like a more usable version of it, but the only people I've ever seen use it are cryptobros, so it's got a kind of anti-network effect.
Edit: Honestly a "SSB2" running over something like Veilid could be real nice, but it's still early days.
Thank you for the article, it was an interesting read. I don't think he'll make anything better than Mastodon or even Bluesky so I won't try Nostr, but I'll keep an eye on it. It may be interesting to follow.
I'm out of the loop, what went wrong with Bluesky?
He doesn't like it because it's the same as twitter according to him.
Journalists don't like it because they get called out on bullshit there.
It's so "decentralized" that political activists from authoritarian countries get deplatformed on request of the government.
jack hates trans ppl and trans ppl made bluesky what it is.
I'm not sure he's the one who fucked it up.
140 symbols and the whole atmosphere I don't like, but I have my own fair set of disorders.
Hashtags are honestly a good idea, just like a social system organized around them.
Except I probably would prefer that to be similar to modernized Usenet. Actually going to pressure my family members to install Briar, want to start using it, and apparently it has such a functionality. Not sure yet. Anyway, the framework under it (right now Briar itself is the only application, but authors have ambitions) definitely would support such a thing. Maybe I'll finally have an incentive to learn Android development.
I kinda agree Twitter was born of a more innocent age, and he was just a tech kid with a good enough pitch to get Silicon Valley VC. The problem is that he did little to rein in powers that were purposely using the platform for social manipulation. Then -- when he already knew better -- he went and started Bluesky, which he specifically said was going to counteract all of Twitter's deficiencies, but capitalism got the better of him, so to make the platform attractive to VCs, advertisers, whatever, his team started to ditch what made Bluesky unique in favor of business tools to help it make money. Business is gonna business, it's not 100% his fault, but I can't imagine what will change a 3rd time around.
Well, that Bitchat thing of his may (after, eh, fixing a lot of it) turn to be not so bad.
Though I went to the Briar site, and apparently it's not just Briar, but also a framework for virtually everything communications-wise offline-enabled.
I dunno, Java to native code compilers exist. Maybe one can compile Bramble into that with some interface wrapper, and then use it under iOS, but I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.
What are the differences between Nostr, AT Protocol and ActivityPub?
I think the main one is that Nostr is supposed to be really simple, and derive some security/privacy from that simplicity. Whereas ATProto and ActivityPub store and forward content so that each rely has a copy, on Nostr nodes the messages are all ephemeral. So it has something of a following with crypto bros and privacy enthusiasts. With nostr IDs are also based on public/private keys unlike ATProto/ActivityPub that use a username@instancename scheme, so signing and identifying content that belongs to a user is easier and more guaranteed to be correct, and your username isn't tied to any specific server "instance"
That's more complicated than a short comment can summarize
LLM answer ok?
Nostr, ActivityPub, and the AT Protocol (used by Bluesky) are all decentralized social media protocols, but they differ significantly in their architecture, approach to data storage, and user experience. Nostr focuses on user-led social media with a simple, flexible protocol centered around relays, while ActivityPub powers the Fediverse with federated instances and a more complex structure. The AT Protocol, used by Bluesky, prioritizes account portability and a more structured data model. [1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
• Focus: User-led social media with a focus on decentralization, user control, and censorship resistance. [1, 2]
• Architecture: Relays (servers) handle communication and data relaying. Users connect to multiple relays, and there are no instances in the traditional sense. [9, 10]
• Data Storage: Data is stored across multiple relays, and users can choose which relays to interact with. [9, 10]
• User Experience: Emphasizes simplicity, flexibility, and user autonomy in content and moderation. [2]
• Strengths: Decentralized, censorship-resistant, and adaptable to various use cases. [2, 10]
• Weaknesses: Smaller network compared to ActivityPub and AT Protocol. [7, 10]
• Focus: Federated social networking, enabling communication between different instances (servers). [1, 1, 11, 11]
• Architecture: Relies on a network of independently run servers (instances) that federate (exchange data) with each other. [1, 1, 11, 11]
• Data Storage: Each instance stores its own data. [3, 3]
• User Experience: Mimics traditional social media platforms with features like following, liking, and commenting. [11, 11, 12, 12]
• Strengths: Established ecosystem with a large number of users and diverse applications (Mastodon, PeerTube, etc.). [1, 1, 13, 13]
• Weaknesses: Can be more complex than Nostr due to the federated structure, and moderation can vary between instances. [2, 2, 3, 3, 14]
• Focus: Account portability and a structured data model. [3, 3, 4, 4, 15]
• Architecture: Uses a layered approach with a data layer (hosted by Bluesky) and a protocol for interacting with that data. [3, 3, 4, 4]
• Data Storage: User data is stored in signed data repositories. [4, 4]
• User Experience: Designed for a more modern and potentially smoother user experience. [3, 3, 4, 4, 16]
• Strengths: Prioritizes account portability and aims for a better user experience. [3, 3, 6, 6]
• Weaknesses: Currently relies on Bluesky for its data layer, raising concerns about centralization. [3, 3]
In essence:
ActivityPub
is a mature protocol powering a vast network of federated servers with a wide range of applications.
Nostr
is a simpler, more user-centric protocol focused on decentralization and user control.
AT Protocol
prioritizes account portability and a modern user experience, but is currently more centralized due to its data layer dependence. [2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 17]
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://dri.es/nostr-love-at-first-sight[2]%C2%A0https://www.voltage.cloud/blog/what-are-the-differences-between-mastodon-and-nostr-protocols[3]%C2%A0https://www.reddit.com/r/Mastodon/comments/1i0mk08/why_usechoose_at_rather_than_activitypub_for/[4]%C2%A0https://atproto.com/guides/overview[5]%C2%A0https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/07/17/your-guide-to-nostr-the-decentralized-network-for-everything/[6]%C2%A0https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33418268%5B7%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nos.social%2Fblog%2Fnostr-user-led-social-media%5B8%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fwww.technology.org%2Fhow-and-why%2Fat-protocol-decentralization%2F%5B9%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Ffediverse%2Fcomments%2F1hwtjgd%2Fis_the_architecture_of_the_fediverse_flawed_and%2F%5B10%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2Fitem%3Fid%3D42761517%5B11%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fallthingsopen.org%2Farticles%2Factivitypub-explained-the-protocol-connecting-the-fediverse%5B12%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fsocialhub.activitypub.rocks%2Ft%2Fintroduction-to-activitypub%2F508%5B13%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FActivityPub%5B14%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fwww.themoonlight.io%2Fen%2Freview%2Fseeing-the-politics-of-decentralized-social-media-protocols%5B15%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fapp.daily.dev%2Fposts%2Factivitypub-nostr-at-bluesky-compared-nvbrn8wft%5B16%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Ftangem.com%2Fen%2Fglossary%2Fnostr%2F%5B17%5D%C2%A0https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nos.social%2Fblog%2Fnostr-user-led-social-media Not all images can be exported from Search.
no
I also have access to an internet
I've seen that dude in a million and one hipster coffee shops...