Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and current CEO of Block, has personally committed $10 million to promote a more independent, user-focused social media landscape free from corporate influence. He directed this investment toward a newly formed nonprofit initiative called “and Other Stuff.”
What is this initiative?
Founded in May 2025, “and Other Stuff” focuses on developing open-source social media tools and technologies — meaning the code is publicly available for anyone to use and improve. Unlike a traditional company, this initiative operates as a “hacker-spirited” community. The team includes notable tech experts such as:
Evan Henshaw-Plath — Twitter’s first employee
Calle — creator of the digital payment system Cashu
Alex Gleason — former engineering lead at Truth Social
Jeff Gardner — one of the first employees at Intercom
This group previously collaborated on Nostr, an open social media protocol designed to operate free from censorship and commercial pressures. They are now also exploring other protocols like ActivityPub, which powers platforms such as Mastodon, along with other emerging technologies.
What is Jack Dorsey’s vision?
Dorsey believes that Twitter should never have been built as a company. Instead, he thinks social media should exist as an open protocol — a decentralized infrastructure that anyone can build on and that is not owned by any single entity. According to him, companies become beholden to advertisers and financial interests, which harms the open development of the internet. Twitter, he says, was forced to act in advertisers’ interests, which ultimately hurt the platform’s potential.
Apps and projects
The “and Other Stuff” team has already created several applications built on open technologies that allow users to create their own platforms:
- Shakespeare — a platform using AI to help build new social apps on Nostr
- heynow — an app for sending voice messages
- White Noise — a private messaging app
- +chorus — a community-focused social platform
- Cashu wallet — a digital wallet for private payments
Most of these apps are designed for mobile devices and are open-source. Currently, iOS versions are available, with Android versions in development.
Social Media “Bill of Rights” in the works
The team is also drafting a Social Media Bill of Rights that will outline key principles for platforms regarding:
- Privacy and security
- Data portability and export
- Transparency and accountability
- Self-governance and identity protection
- Interoperability with other platforms
The goal is to ensure that future social media platforms remain accountable and transparent to their users.
Future plans and podcast
Evan Henshaw-Plath has launched a podcast called “revolution.social”, with Jack Dorsey as the first guest. They met at a hackathon in Switzerland and discussed the history and future of social media. Dorsey emphasized:
“It’s crucial that platforms like Twitter be built as open protocols, not companies. Only then can healthy businesses be built on top while protecting users’ interests.”
Future episodes will feature renowned technologists, journalists, and researchers such as Kara Swisher, Taylor Lorenz, Yoel Roth, Cory Doctorow, and others.
