Jack Dorsey Invests $10 Million in Open Source Social Media Nonprofit

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and CEO of Block, has invested $10 million in a new nonprofit initiative focused on developing open-source social media technologies. This initiative, known as ‘andOtherStuff,’ was formed to fund experimental open-source projects and tools that could reshape the social media landscape. The project is designed as a ‘community of hackers’ rather than a traditional company, with a focus on building new social media apps, developer tools, and libraries. Notable projects include ‘Shakespeare,’ a platform for building Nostr-based social apps with AI assistance, and ‘heynow,’ a voice note app built on Nostr. Additionally, the nonprofit is working on private messenger White Noise and the Cashu wallet, among other apps. Dorsey’s investment has kickstarted the organization, and more experimental developments are underway. Dorsey has expressed dissatisfaction with the structure of his previous venture, Bluesky, which he believes faces similar challenges as traditional social media platforms due to its venture capital backing. The team behind ‘andOtherStuff’ hopes to take a different approach, inspired by the decentralized nature of Bitcoin, focusing on openness and innovation in social media development.