Episode Overview

Title: Building Middleware for Bluesky: A Conversation with Blacksky Founder Rudy Fraser
Podcast: The Tech Policy Press Podcast
Host: Justin Hendricks
Guest: Rudy Fraser (Founder, Black Sky Algorithms; Fellow, Applied Social Media Lab, Berkman Klein Center at Harvard)
Release Date: March 3, 2025

The episode centers on the development of decentralized middleware tools for social networks, specifically through the lens of Rudy Fraser’s work building Blacksky for the decentralized social media protocol Bluesky. The conversation explores Fraser's technological and community organizing background, motivations for empowering marginalized communities online, the architecture and societal implications of Blacksky, and the broader promise of decentralization and self-governance in digital public spaces.

1. Rudy Fraser: From Gaming Curiosity to Tech & Community Building

• Formative Years and Early Technology Interest (01:13–04:41)
  • Video game-driven curiosity: learned tech skills modding games, hacking, and editing for fun and peer recognition.
  • Overcame housing and food insecurity growing up, attending numerous schools and constantly relocating in Brooklyn and Queens.
  • Pragmatic pathway: With limited college access, landed a tech-adjacent job (sales development), then automated his own job to move into IT, ultimately reaching a senior director role.

“If I got an A, I got a video game. That was the way I tried to... get new video games... And then just being able to impress my friends with some crazy colored gamertag or having everything unlocked — that was my reward system.”
— Rudy Fraser (01:13)

• Community Care as Survival and Motivation (05:46–10:50)
  • Community care was a necessity, having relied on and reciprocated help during periods of instability; this ingrained a collective mindset.
  • Recognized parallels between internal challenges of social justice organizations and corporations—except nonprofits lack structure like HR, making mutual aid messy but human.

"In community you have all that you need. I thought that was very normal."
— Rudy Fraser (05:46)

• Transition to Mutual Aid and Project Papertree
  • During the George Floyd protests, inspired by community fridges and mutual aid systems. Volunteered for We The People NYC.
  • Papertree: a shared neighborhood “bank account” for groceries — inspired by the moral dilemmas in mutual aid resource allocation.

2. Enter Bluesky, Blacksky, and Decentralized Social Media

• First Impressions of Bluesky & Motivation for Building Blacksky (12:38–16:46)
  • Came to Bluesky during a prototyping gap after Papertree’s shutdown.
  • Interest piqued by Bluesky’s algorithmic choice and user autonomy—“what if you could just choose to see Black content without having to train the app?”
  • Blacksky started as a “hacky” MVP and quickly found popularity, contrasting with slow traction of Papertree and traditional enterprise IT tools.

“I just wanted to replicate [the Explorer feed full of Black content]... not having to train it or explain to the algorithm. What if you just could start there?”
— Rudy Fraser (13:51)

• Early and rapid growth: Thousands of users immediately, now over 1 million users and 350,000 monthly actives.

• Racism and Harassment: Challenges of Decentralized Platforms (16:46–21:17)

  • Black users initially faced significant trolling on Bluesky, similar to other decentralized platforms like Mastodon.
  • As the platform scaled, so did trolling—but Fraser emphasizes improvements in user control, safety features, and culture.

“Anytime black folks gather or congregate anywhere, it is perceived as a threat... If the problem is measured by trolls, that has just scaled with the rest of the network. If it is measured by how the average black user on Blue Sky feels, then I think that is greatly improved.”
— Rudy Fraser (18:16)

• New moderation tools—reply gating, blocking, and content labeling—have improved the environment, but vigilance and innovation remain necessary.

3. Blacksky: Middleware for Community Moderation and Self-Governance

• What is Blacksky? Core Features and Philosophy (21:17–27:53)
  • Elevator pitch: “A home for black users on the network that is safe and self governable and self sovereign.”
  • Blacksky is not exclusionary—anyone can view or post, but amplification is curated.
  • Moderation as a Service: Black users can choose Blacksky moderation for content filtering, reporting, and automated defense against slurs and harassment.
  • Manual and automated moderation: Both human review and AI-powered detectors; focus on proactivity and community responsiveness.
  • Blacksky as open-source, with its own independent implementation of Bluesky’s AT Protocol for data migration and sovereignty if necessary.

“We’re trying to create a home for black users on the network that is safe and self governable and self sovereign... anyone can view the Black sky feed, anyone can post into the feed, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
— Rudy Fraser (21:42)

• Revenue: Donations, monthly supporters, partnerships, and gentle “ads” nudging donations in the feed.
• Business risk: Preparedness for Bluesky “rug pull” by maintaining a protocol fork to ensure data and continuity.

4. Research, Collaboration, and the Layered Future of Social Media

• Opportunities for Researchers and Collaborations (29:23–33:27)
  • Blacksky is already working with academic and nonprofit partners to adapt moderation technology for other causes (e.g., labeling, misinformation detection).
  • Interested in knitting Blacksky services with other federated protocols and services (e.g., Mastodon, Nostr) for broader interoperability.
  • Fellowship at the Berkman Klein Center’s Applied Social Media Lab creates potential for cross-protocol research, connecting decentralized tech communities.

“There’s a group who wanted to use that same technology and implement it to amplify a cause. We helped them... and then hosted the service for them.”
— Rudy Fraser (29:57)

• Example: Blacksky’s slur detector flagged a post that traveled across Nostr, Mastodon, and Bluesky, showing interconnectedness of federated systems.

5. Organization, Sustainability, and Community Labor

• Building the Blacksky Team (33:27–36:03)
  • Eight volunteer moderators—work is heavy, emotional, and paid as budget allows; goal is to grow and professionalize (seek trust and safety experts).
  • Four open source Rust contributors; trans communities exploring migration via Blacksky’s codebase.
  • Open roles: Rust developers and dedicated trust & safety experts most needed.

“Moderation is not fun... it is heavy, traumatic work. And so I want to compensate and have been compensating folks for that work.”
— Rudy Fraser (33:40)

6. Reflection, Affirmations, and Links

• Looking Ahead and Personal Rewards (36:03–37:06)
  • Fraser shares that Blacksky users regularly report the platform as a positive social media environment and a source of supportive community—validation that outweighs challenges.

“All the problems I thought I would have, all the problems people told me I would have, are not the problems that I have. But it felt so rewarding... some of the most positive experiences they've had on social media in a long time.”
— Rudy Fraser (36:33)

• Connect and Learn More (37:08)
  • Website: blackskyweb.xyz
  • Bluesky: @udyfraser.com and @blackskyapp
  • Code: Open source at Blacksky’s GitHub

Notable Quotes

• “In community you have all that you need. I thought that was very normal.” (05:46)
• “I just wanted to replicate [the Explorer feed full of Black content]... What if you could just start there." (13:51)
• “If the complaint is that there are not racist trolls... when we have the most popular custom feed and it’s about black community building, then I think we’re doing something good.” (27:40)
• “Moderation is not fun... it is heavy, traumatic work. And so I want to compensate and have been compensating folks for that work.” (33:40)
• "All the problems I thought I would have, all the problems people told me I would have, are not the problems that I have. But it felt so rewarding..." (36:33)

Key Timestamps

• Rudy Fraser’s upbringing and tech journey: 01:13–05:28
• On mutual aid, Papertree origins: 05:46–11:27
• First impressions of Bluesky, Blacksky’s early growth: 12:38–16:46
• Experiences of racism, moderation needs, and Blacksky’s impact: 16:46–21:17
• Technical breakdown and sovereignty of Blacksky: 21:17–27:53
• Collaborations with researchers, federated social media: 29:23–33:27
• Team building, future needs: 33:27–36:03
• Reflection and wrap-up: 36:03–37:36

Summary prepared for listeners and researchers seeking a rich, contextual understanding of Blacksky and the evolving landscape of middleware for decentralized social networks.