Entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban is willing to fund a TikTok alternative built on Bluesky's AT protocol, he shared in a TikTok video posted Wednesday. Users are fleeing to other video platforms, including Chinese app Red Note, in anticipation of a U.S. ban on TikTok that will go into effect on Sunday unless blocked by the Supreme Court. But investors like Cuban see the potential for a more open social web, including an ecosystem of apps that leverage the same technology that currently powers Blue Sky's social network.
The AT protocol is a newer open protocol designed for decentralized social media applications. It aims to address what some developers saw as shortcomings of the existing decentralized protocol ActivityPub, used by Mastodon and other social services. Although Bluesky is the flagship app for the AT protocol for the time being, there are many other services currently being built using this technology.
Consumer demand for open social apps is also in full swing, and Bluesky itself saw a surge in new registrations in the wake of the US presidential election, with the number of users on its network increasing from more than 10 million in September to more than 27.6 million. . Meanwhile, on Wednesday we announced the news that a Bluesky client called Flashes is coming, which focuses on images rather than text.
Cuban says he'd like to see something comparable to TikTok but built on the AT protocol and come back.
In the video, he briefly explains how people can create their own social networking servers and apps using ATProto (as it's called for short).
He further added, “I would be open to investing in supporting anyone or anyone creating a TikTok alternative built on the AT protocol. If you have the ability to do so, let me know in the comments. If you can create an MVP (minimum viable product) for me to look at, that's even better, because obviously I think you'll get a lot of support. says Mr.
“And more importantly, building on top of the AT protocol makes it extensible, meaning no one can buy or close it.” I am referring to the account portability aspect of construction. .
This means that users who want to move their account to another server can do so without losing their followers, content, and other data.
Cuban's interest in ATProto goes beyond expanding the open social web. It's also about fueling competition with Elon Musk's X. Cuban has publicly feuded with Musk on X and other areas, criticizing X's approach to things like content moderation and misinformation.
Cuban asked interested developers to respond in the comments of the TikTok post.