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# Bluesky Social: A Decentralized Twitter Alternative Takes an Open-Source Approach
- URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/bluesky-social-open-source/
- Published: 2023-05-19T11:17:46.000Z
- Updated: 2023-05-19T11:23:57.000Z
- Description: A Twitter replacement in the works with better fundamentals and approach in place?
- Author: Sourav Rudra
- Tags: Open Source, News, #Import 2025-11-08 21:15

Bluesky is a social network gaining popularity since the shenanigans at Twitter began. It is backed by the former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

It began back in [2019](https://twitter.com/jack/status/1204766078468911106?ref=itsfoss.com) as an end goal to what Twitter was supposed to become, sadly, it didn't pan out, and Bluesky became an [independent entity](https://blueskyweb.xyz/blog/2-7-2022-overview?ref=itsfoss.com) to develop a **large-scale framework** for open and [decentralized social media](https://itsfoss.com/mainstream-social-media-alternaives/).

And that goal is now closer to being achieved than ever before with their recent move.

Allow me to take you through it.

**What's Happening:** The client code for **Web**, **Android**, and **iOS** has been made open-source. Now anyone can use the code to **improve Bluesky** or **make their own alternative decentralized social media** based on it.

![bluesky android screenshots](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2023/05/bluesky-screenshot.jpg)

Bluesky on Android

Bluesky uses its in-house open protocol called the **[AT Protocol](https://atproto.com/?ref=itsfoss.com)** which facilitates this level of decentralization, allowing users to **move across the federated network with ease**.

**Does It Matter:** Well, yes. You see, most mainstream social media platforms **don't open-source their code** and have been known to pull off some pretty shady moves in the background.

![a screenshot of the bluesky logo](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2023/05/Bluesky.jpg)

Even in the case of Twitter, when [Elon said](https://itsfoss.com/twitter-algorithm-open-source/) that they would be open-sourcing the Twitter algorithm, the end result was quite [disappointing](https://github.com/twitter/the-algorithm?ref=itsfoss.com).

Compared to that, Bluesky's move should further solidify its goal of providing an open, decentralized social media alternative.

**Want to check out the source code?**

The source code has been provided under the [MIT License](https://opensource.org/license/mit/?ref=itsfoss.com), granting people the right to copy, modify and distribute the code **without running into any legal issues**.

It can be found on [GitHub](https://github.com/bluesky-social/social-app?ref=itsfoss.com); the developers have made it clear that they will be prioritizing more pressing pull requests and issues than the minor ones.

📋

Since the news broke out, it has gotten over **2.1k stars** and **over 200 forks**.

They have also laid out a few rules and guidelines for contributors and users who want to fork the repo.

**Suggested Read** 📖

[10 Decentralized, Open Source Alternative Social Media PlatformsTired of Big Tech prying on your data and invading your privacy? Here are some open source, decentralized alternate social platforms.![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2022/12/android-chrome-192x192.png)It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2021/01/1984-quote.png)](https://itsfoss.com/mainstream-social-media-alternaives/)

I'm looking forward to when they make Bluesky available for general use by removing the waitlisting system that is currently in place.

*💬 What do you think of this move by Bluesky? Do you think this thing will take off?*