Bluesky advertising has quietly moved from an unthinkable idea to an open question. As the decentralized social network continues its rapid growth, CEO Jay Graber is making it clear that ads are not completely off the table. They just won’t look anything like what users have come to expect from traditional social platforms.
Bluesky exploded in popularity this year for a simple reason. It gave users control again. The platform offers customization, open feeds, and a protocol that does not trap people inside the vision of a single billionaire owner. That freedom has attracted millions of users who are tired of algorithmic feeds designed to maximize engagement at any cost.
Still, growth brings pressure. Bluesky has raised about $15 million so far, and Graber says investor interest is increasing. With that attention comes a familiar question. How does a social network built on openness actually make money without breaking what made it special in the first place?
So far, Bluesky has floated several ideas. These include paid subscriptions, a marketplace for algorithms, and even selling custom domain names. Graber has repeatedly pushed back against the idea of flooding the app with ads. Yet she has also been careful not to promise an ad-free future forever.
When asked directly if Bluesky would always remain free of advertisers, Graber did not offer a firm no. Instead, she acknowledged that Bluesky advertising could exist in some form, as long as it respects users and aligns with their intent.
Her concern is not advertising itself. It is the business model behind it. Traditional social media turned attention into the product. Feeds became optimized for outrage, addiction, and endless scrolling. According to Graber, that model broke trust and damaged the social web.
Bluesky is built differently by design. Its open protocol allows users to create their own feeds or move to alternatives entirely. That structure makes it nearly impossible to rely on intrusive, feed-based advertising alone. If ads become annoying, users can simply avoid them.
This technical reality shapes how Bluesky advertising could work. Graber suggested that any future ads would be intent-driven rather than attention-driven. The goal would be relevance without manipulation, and utility without surveillance.
One example she later mentioned was ads in search results. Search-based ads rely on what users actively look for, not what an algorithm pushes in front of them. That approach mirrors early internet advertising before feeds became dominant.
Graber’s philosophy comes from her background. She describes herself as a digital rights activist at heart. In her view, social networks are no longer casual tools. They are core infrastructure for communication, culture, and civic life. That makes user control non-negotiable.
This mindset also explains why Bluesky is ruling out another popular revenue stream. AI licensing deals are not part of the plan. While platforms like Reddit now charge AI companies to train on their data, Bluesky does not want to monetize user content that way.
The company has already pledged not to train its own AI models on Bluesky posts. Graber wants to go further by creating something similar to robots.txt for social platforms. That would allow users to signal whether bots can scrape their content.
The challenge is that Bluesky runs on an open protocol. Public posts are visible by design. That openness makes scraping difficult to stop, even if the company wanted to enforce strict controls. This sets Bluesky apart from closed platforms that can gate access and sell data.
Reddit’s recent profitability highlights the contrast. By restricting access and licensing data to AI firms, Reddit found a new revenue engine. Bluesky, meanwhile, is prioritizing principles over short-term gains.
For now, monetization is not urgent. Bluesky is still in growth mode. The platform jumped from around 3 million users earlier this year to roughly 24 million today. That is impressive, but it is still small compared to rivals.
Threads, for example, has more than 275 million monthly users and has not fully rolled out ads yet either. In that context, Bluesky has time to experiment without rushing into decisions that could undermine trust.
Graber also sees opportunity beyond the consumer app. Bluesky is built on the AT Protocol, and she believes a business could grow around maintaining and supporting that ecosystem. This could include offering services or infrastructure to other platforms that adopt the protocol in the future.
Right now, Bluesky is the only major platform running on AT. But Graber argues that growing the ecosystem and growing Bluesky do not conflict. In fact, they reinforce each other by strengthening the underlying network.
This is where Bluesky advertising becomes more complex than a simple yes or no. The platform is not trying to replicate Facebook or Instagram. It is trying to prove that social networks can exist without locking users in or exploiting their data.
That goal naturally limits monetization options. But it also attracts users who value autonomy and transparency. For Bluesky, that tradeoff is intentional.
The open protocol that makes Bluesky appealing also removes many of the levers that made legacy platforms profitable. There is no single feed to dominate. There is no captive audience that cannot leave. And there is no centralized algorithm that controls visibility.
In that sense, the difficulty of monetizing Bluesky is not a flaw. It is proof that the system works as intended.
If Bluesky advertising does arrive, it will likely be subtle, optional, and tied closely to user intent. Anything else would clash with the platform’s core values and technical foundations.
Whether that approach can sustain a massive global network remains an open question. But for now, Bluesky seems willing to take the harder path, even if it means slower revenue growth.
That restraint is rare in social media today. And it may be the very reason users continue to show up.
