blacksky-algorithms:~:#

Decentralized tools for

creating safe, independent

online spaces.

As seen on:

Say Hi! 👋🏾

hello@blacksky.app

Blacksky is building the future of self-governable online communities.

Most social platforms control what users see, how communities operate, and who gets to feel safe online.

Blacksky changes that by providing the infrastructure for independent, self-governed digital spaces. Our tools allow communities to define their own rules, curate their own feeds, and manage moderation on their terms, ensuring that users—not corporations—control their online experience.

Built on the "AT Protocol", Blacksky provides scalable hosting, feed generation, moderation tools, and personal data servers. Communities of all kinds—developers, activists, educators, cultural groups—can use our technology to create safe, independent spaces free from algorithmic suppression and corporate oversight. We believe an internet where marginalized users are safe is an internet where all users are safe, and Blacksky’s infrastructure makes that possible.

Our
History

In May 2023, Blacksky launched as a custom feed on Bluesky, quickly gaining traction as a space for Black users to express themselves. Within months, it reached millions of views and became one of the most engaged feeds on the platform.

Beginning

Facing harassment and platform limitations, Blacksky iterated on safety tools, pioneering features like content bans and community-driven moderation. By November 2024, rapid adoption fueled a surge in demand for decentralized tools beyond Bluesky.

2023
↓
2025

In 2025, Blacksky transitioned from a community project to an independent company. Now, it provides infrastructure and tooling for communities seeking safer, self-governable online spaces.

↑
Now

With scalable hosting and moderation solutions, Blacksky is building the foundation for a decentralized web where communities have control over their spaces, free from platform control.

Core Team

Rudy Fraser

Founder & CEO

Rudy is a technologist, community organizer, and founder of Blacksky Algorithms, where he develops open-source infrastructure that lets communities shape their social media experience, govern their data, and fund collective needs. His work on rsky, an independent implementation of the AT Protocol, offers a credible exit path for users and advances community-driven governance across the decentralized web. Previously as a Fellow in the Applied Social Media Lab at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, Rudy focused on tools that protect marginalized groups, especially Black users, through context-aware moderation and equitable algorithms.

Under the Blacksky banner he also stewards Papertree, a mutual-aid and revenue-sharing platform that converts pooled resources into sustainable community budgets. Beyond Blacksky, Rudy serves on the board of Pact Collective, supporting equitable finance for more than a dozen grassroots groups, and organizes mutual aid with We The People NYC to deliver food, clothing, and other essentials in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods.

With over a decade of experience leading technical teams and designing resilient systems, Rudy is committed to strengthening digital public life through transparent code, inclusive governance, and accessible infrastructure that keeps communities safe, empowered, and in control.

Dr. KáLyn Coghill

Blacksky,
Community Safety
and Support Steward

Dr. KáLyn "Kay" Coghill is an organizer and educator who has a decades-long background studying and teaching topics such as digital misogynoir, online gender-based violence, Black Feminism, and Black Girlhood Studies. Their work encompasses community organizing around issues such as Reproductive Justice, Disability Justice, and Survivor Justice. They are an Abortion Doula and board member of their local abortion fund, and a board member for Justice for Black Girls. Dr. Kay spends a lot of time working with the youth in their city, Richmond, through their sister circle, G.L.O.W., and also through the work they do with their company, Hoodrat Scholarship™️.
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With their extensive background in working with Black women and non-binary people to create innovative harm reduction tactics online to combat issues like misogynoir, they seek to work diligently as a moderator for Blacksky to help mitigate the harms of anti-black harassment and misogynoir.
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Dr. Kay has a passion for protecting Black womxn and girls and dedicates their work to doing just that. Their mission is to continue to build communities online that are safe for Black people across the globe while also finding ways to protect them from harm in the process.

Clinton Bowen

Blacksky,
Infrastructure Engineer

Clinton is a software engineer from California with experience in information security, backend software, and infrastructure development. Clinton is passionate about building fubu-ism technology. One hobby of his is transcribing and translating the laws and ordinances controlling the enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade for slavecodes.org

JD Lauwerends

Blacksky,
Trust & Safety Lead

JD Lauwerends (they/them) is a cultural strategist and Trust & Safety practitioner with a background in platform moderation, community integrity, and accessible systems design. They build safety frameworks rooted in care, accountability, and the lived experiences of vulnerable communities online.

Marisa Rando

Papertree,
Operations

Marisa is an organizer, academic, and Founder/President of Pact Collective, a 501c3 that acts as a fiscal host to nearly 20 mutual aid organizations in NYC. Marisa has years of marketing and product experience in the tech world, and is currently doing her PhD in Sociology at the University of Cambridge researching tech/labor.

Rishi Balakrishnan

Papertree,
Engineering

Rishi is a software engineer from the Bay Area with experience building privacy preserving software and backend infrastructure. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Global Poverty and Practice, and is dedicated to creating technology that supports care and democratic decision-making.