Speakeasy

Slowly rolling out the new suite of Blacksky tools... ⏳
- @blackskyweb.xyz People's Assembly: We'll use this tool to gather feedback and collectively govern Blacksky, democratically
- Login using your atproto account (bsky.social, blacksky.app, w.e.)
- Serves as both poll and forum for the community

If in 2025 a social media platform has this much hate on it, it is because the owners have chosen to allow it.

We need people in charge of social media who care about people's safety

That's why we're implemented secure private posts on Bluesky
about.spkeasy.social/security

What Elon Musk’s “Exit” From White House Really Means and What’s Next for DOGE Podcast Episode · System Crash · 06/06/2025 · 55m

"You can just assume that anything you're not saying in an encrypted area it's being vacuumed up at this point"
- Brian Merchant, System Crash Podcast

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

‘Nobody wants a robot to read them a story!’ The creatives and academics rejecting AI – at work and at home Is artificial intelligence coming for everyone’s jobs? Not if this lot have anything to do with it

The tech giants want to use their tech to isolate us, but we don't have to accept it.

We can choose to use tech that connects us rather than isolates us

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

You're right @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social , time does usually, by convention, run forwards!

That issue has been fixed. Thanks for pointing it out 🙏

Speakeasy Mob Coding Learn from an experienced engineering leader while working on code that makes a real impact.

We’re building Speakeasy the way social media should be: welcoming, genuinely connecting people, and nurturing growth

That starts with how we write code

Whether you want to shape the future of social media or are curious to learn alongside others, come code with us

about.spkeasy.social/mob-coding

Screenshot from Speakeasy showing a break in infinite scroll offering suggested actions of Read a Book, Message a Friend, Take a Walk, Edit Options or Keep Scrolling

What if we optimised technology for people instead of advertisers and investors?

Huge shoutout to @jpm-nz.bsky.social for implementing our first human centred adaptive algorithm (or AI✨)

As you use speakeasy it will adjust the timing of this pause in the scroll, optimising for *less* time on site

Big Tech takes a harder line against worker activism, political dissent A tighter labor market and lower corporate tolerance have stifled employee input on controversies over company policy, AI safety and the Israel-Gaza war.

#BigTech can't be trusted. When put to the test they always put profits ahead of doing the right thing.

If we want something better, we're going to have to build it ourselves

#cooperatives #capitalism

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

We need platforms that are truly independent and for all people

I keep catching strays from "technology is neutral" people, so let's set things straight.

1) Technology is not neutral, especially the subset of technology called "algorithms"
2) The form-factor that makes a technology into a tool is not neutral
3) How tools are productized is not neutral

[rant]

Speakeasy A cooperatively owned social platform built for focus, safety and authentic connections

It’s seems fitting that 2025 is the International Year of Cooperatives.

The damage of #TechBro greed is so visible. Never has it been more urgent to leave them behind

Why not start with co-operative social media? 😉

about.spkeasy.social

#InternationalYearOfCooperatives #coop #cooperatives

Edmundo Castilho, founder of the Unimed System, during the inauguration of Unimed Bauru headquarters in 1976

Sistema Unimed (Brazil)
Brazil’s healthcare hero 🇧🇷 Unimed is the largest medical cooperative globally, serving 18M patients with 114K doctors. A model of physician-owned care! #HealthcareCoop #Unimed

Shop front of the Cooperative Bank

The Co-operative Bank (New Zealand)
NZ’s Co-operative Bank is owned by its customers and has redistributed $22.5M in profits since 2013. If we can make banking ethical, there’s nothing coops can’t do! #CooperativeBanking #NZ

Cover image of the book Reinventing Organizations It has a quote "Impressive! Brilliant! This book is a world changer" - Jenny Wade, Ph.D author Changes of Mind The book has a blue butterfly on a keyboard The book charts the evolution of organisations from fragile top down command and control structures to more organic emppwerment and collaborative structures

Buurtzorg (Netherlands)
🩺 Buurtzorg’s nurse-led teams provide holistic care while saving 40% in costs for the Dutch system. With 15,000 nurses worldwide, it’s shining example of self-management made it a case study in the book Reinventing Organisations. #Healthcare #Coops

A Mondragon office with a sign out front that says "Humanity at Work"

Mondragon Corporation (Spain)
No list of cooperatives would be complete without Mondragon. A federation of worker co-ops in Spain, they employ over 70,000 people globally!

Founded in 1956, it spans industries from retail to finance. #Coops #Mondragon

How do we break from enshitified, surveillance capitalism?

🔑 The key is cooperatives

2025 is the year of the cooperative. Here’s 4 (big) coops that have changed the world

Whether you're an aspiring junior dev looking to grow, or a seasoned engineer looking to jump into a new codebase and contribute to something meaningful, we'd love to meet you 😀

Speakeasy Pairing Hours Learn from an experienced engineering leader while working on code that makes a real impact.

Building a kinder internet starts at home

While we work on Speakeasy, we want to create a collaborative space that supports growth.

Come hang out, write some code, and make the internet a little better

April 17, 2pm AEST

about.spkeasy.social/pairing-hours

We need to ditch the FAANGs for something rooted in #solidarity, #democracy, #wellbeing and #inclusion and where we don’t have to ask investors for permission to do the right thing
#coop #cooperatives

YouTube video by TheMelbComedyFest Gillian Cosgriff | 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala

Want to stop giving away your attention to the have yachts?

We've got you covered

#MICF #GillianCosgriff #Billionaire

youtu.be/s-HgE2LfjjY?...

A child with headphones watches many screen depicting dark and firey images

The problems of social media sound abstract—they’re in our lives now:
🤥 Misinformation worsens public health crises
🧌 Trolls harass women & minorities
😡 The toxic manosphere fuels hate
💸 Small orgs pay a social media tax to reach their audience

Do you ever wonder what kind of world we would live in if the algorithm penalised every article with a passive voice headline?

Speakeasy A cooperatively owned social platform built for focus, safety and authentic connections

Playing around with @spkeasy.social
after backing them - new coop social media platform built to inspire, not exploit. It’s powered by open source tech and puts people before profits to fosters connection, informed communities, and a kinder internet.

Check them out about.spkeasy.social

Speakeasy A cooperatively owned social platform built for focus, safety and authentic connections

Speakeasy: Built by us, for us. We're not waiting for tech giants to fix social media. We're doing it ourselves, piece by piece. It's a big task, but we're starting here, with you. Join us in reimagining social media: about.spkeasy.social

We know people in tech make big promises all the time, but the power and wealth that social media commands means we have to start building alternatives.

Give Speakeasy a try. Hop in our DMs, or join us! Help shape a alternatively owned tech

We’re taking a Wikipedia approach. Donation funded, free for everyone. Everyone deserves access to social media that’s not trying to hack your brain

100 monthly backers: Approach grant makers
200 monthly backers: First hire
600 monthly backers: Build a team

Screenshot from spkeasy.social showing the pause infinite scroll feature suggesting alternative options to continuing to scroll and a button to edit the suggestions.

We're starting small, but meaningful:
🔒 Private messages for trusted contacts (not everything can or should be public)
🎯 Set your intention & skip the distractions when you just want to post or chat
⏸️ Non-infinite scroll (yeah, we don’t measure our success by how long you spend doom-scrolling)

A hand holding a phone with the Speakeasy home screen showing 4 options: Scroll, Search, Post, Chat. Floating around the phone are cutouts of screenshots showing post to my trusted list, a button saying take a breath, and a trust button next to a bluesky profile. Also around the phone are square photos of people: a person with short cropped, rainbow dyed hair, a person in a wheelchair sharing a drink with two others and a person with brown curly hair looking at the camera and holding a colour palette up

Hey Bluesky folks! We're Speakeasy. Cooperatively owned, no billionaire wannabes. We're building social media that works for us, not advertisers.

Intrigued? Skeptical? We get it. Check us out: about.spkeasy.social

We urgently need to start building alternative, cooperatively owned tech.
A lot of the pieces are in place. Piece by piece we can replace the silicon valley eco system with one that works for people instead of tech billionaires.