As X shuts down Communities, Acorn debuts an alternative that puts creators in control
Source: TechCrunch
Acorn — A Decentralized Community‑Building Platform
A new project called Acorn lets organizations and creators build their own online communities as an alternative to centralized social‑media platforms such as Instagram, X, and Threads. It runs on the same underlying AT Protocol that powers the decentralized social‑media app Bluesky, enabling communities to create custom homepages, starter packs for new members, and tailored feeds and moderation tools.
Background
Acorn’s platform originates from Blacksky, a company developing a decentralized social‑media toolkit around the AT Protocol. The protocol was created by the Bluesky team and is now used by a growing ecosystem of open‑social apps, including Flashes, Spark, Skylight, Surf, Streamplace, Leaflet, and more.
Image Credit: Acorn from Blacksky
To date, Blacksky has focused on building tools that provide a safer online space for members of the Black‑Twitter community. This effort has involved forking Bluesky, building custom moderation services, creating its own AT‑Protocol implementation, and other technical feats.
With Acorn, Blacksky is extending these tools to any community that wants to build its own space on the open‑social web.
Why Decentralized Communities Matter
Organizations and creators can now run communities they control, rather than ceding control to tech giants whose algorithms and policies are often opaque and subject to change. For example, X recently announced it was shutting down its Communities feature (TechCrunch, 23 Apr 2026), leaving users scrambling to relocate their groups.
Core Features
- Onboarding & Starter Packs – Like Bluesky’s “Starter Packs,” Acorn lets communities create curated lists of suggested follows for newcomers.
- Reputation Systems – Custom badges, awards, and tools for policing bots and trolls.
- Moderation Controls – Communities define their own policies and use custom tools to manage reports, take down or ban accounts, and remove posts.
- Custom Feeds & Tabs – Build topic‑focused feeds and separate tabs for announcements, events, resources, etc.
- Analytics Dashboard – Track member growth, feed activity, and engagement patterns to gauge community health.
- Self‑Hosted Deployments – Deploy Acorn’s tools on a custom domain; pricing is tailored to each community’s needs.
- Optional PDS (Personal Data Server) – Run a full AT‑Protocol node for complete independence from Bluesky.
Image Credit: Acorn from Blacksky
Image Credit: Acorn from Blacksky (moderation queue)
Image Credit: Acorn from Blacksky (custom feeds)
Image Credit: Acorn from Blacksky (analytics)
Pricing & Business Model
- Current average price: ≈ $100 – $150 per month.
- Future model: A tiered SaaS structure that scales with community size and tooling requirements.
Communities can choose to use the full suite (including a self‑hosted PDS) or a lightweight, customized client built by Blacksky.
Early Adoption
Acorn is already powering AT‑Protocol‑based communities Latinsky and Medsky, as well as a filmmaker collective called The Invite. Discussions are underway with additional media companies and nonprofits. Interested parties can join the waitlist on the Acorn website.
“The name Acorn is inspired by the adaptable and resilient community Octavia Butler penned in Parable of the Sower (1993). Like the fictional Acorn community, Blacksky has survived through constant adaptation,” explains Acorn’s Lead Software Engineer Rishi Balakrishnan.
“We didn’t plan to build out the full infrastructure stack we have now—a stack that provides complete independence from Bluesky. Each step was adaptive and based on community need. Acorn shares the knowledge and infrastructure we’ve gained from building alongside the Blacksky community so that other communities can grow in the same way—allowing them to keep focus on their missions/people without needing technical expertise.”
Regulatory & Market Context
Acorn arrives as social‑media services face heavier regulation worldwide (TechCrunch, 23 Apr 2026), with some jurisdictions banning platforms for minors. Simultaneously, users are growing distrustful of tech‑giant platforms that prioritize advertising revenue over user experience.
Conclusion
Acorn provides a decentralized, customizable, and self‑governed alternative for communities seeking independence from mainstream social networks. By leveraging the AT Protocol and Blacksky’s tooling, it empowers creators, organizations, and nonprofits to build sustainable, member‑centric spaces on their own terms.
[Fixing the problem](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/24/facebook-group-admins-complain-of-mass-bans-meta-says-its-fixing-the-problem/) of [automated bans](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/16/instagram-users-complain-of-mass-bans-pointing-finger-at-ai/) across Facebook and Instagram has **wiped out** some users’ social media accounts and [Facebook Groups](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/24/facebook-group-admins-complain-of-mass-bans-meta-says-its-fixing-the-problem/), leaving them with no recourse and no way to reach a human for an appeal.
While the impacted users are a small percentage of Meta’s overall user base of billions, these people are more likely to consider an alternative platform when—and if—they choose to return to social media, making them good potential customers for services like **Acorn** to target.
> *When you purchase through links in our articles, [we may earn a small commission](https://techcrunch.com/techcrunch-affiliate-monetization-standards/). This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.*