A social network that belongs to the people on it, not to advertisers or a boardroom.
Built and run by Netanel, a solo founder.
I built OpenBook on my own because I was tired of social networks that quietly treat the people who use them as the product. So I set out to build the opposite: a place that is honest with you about how it works, that never sells what you share, and that you can actually trust because you can read exactly how it runs.
Every big platform runs on the same quiet trade. You post and scroll for "free," and in return your attention and your personal data get packaged and sold. The rules that decide who gets seen are secret. Reach gets throttled silently, with no explanation and no appeal. And the important decisions are made in a boardroom optimizing for ad revenue, not for you. I did not want to add one more of those to the world.
OpenBook is built on one idea most platforms get wrong: credible neutrality. Your feed, your reputation, and your privacy follow published rules that anyone can read, not a black box. It fuses the Facebook side (profiles, a feed, photos, chat, stories, Reels) with the Reddit side (communities, voting, threaded comments) on a foundation of trust you can audit for yourself.
Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone, ever, no matter how big the offer from big tech. This is the one I get asked about most. The answer is no, and it stays no.
Every single line that runs OpenBook lives in the open on GitHub under the AGPL license. If you ever wonder how something works, you can read it yourself. There is no hidden algorithm.
Your posts, photos, and videos are yours to manage, export, or truly delete, any time. When you delete something, it is actually gone.
No secret rules and no silent throttling without a reason. The ranking and reputation math is published in the repository for anyone to check.
Big changes and new features go to a public vote, not a closed-door meeting.
I am a solo founder. There are no investors leaning on me to "monetize the users," and no growth team optimizing for outrage. That independence is the whole point: there is no one above me who can quietly decide to sell your data or switch on creepy ad tracking to hit a number. And the AGPL license makes this openness permanent, even for anyone who ever forks the project.
If you believe a social network can be honest with the people who use it, you are in the right place.
— Netanel, founder of OpenBook