How atproto handles identity
The AT Protocol takes a fundamentally different approach to identity compared to traditional web platforms. Instead of tying your identity to a single company's server, atproto uses Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs) as the stable, permanent anchor of who you are.
Your DID is something like did:plc:v4zpi74gy7enfiwke7hmoxv5. It never changes,
even if you move your data to a different Personal Data Server (PDS). Your
handle — the human-readable part like alice.bsky.social
— is just a pointer that resolves to your DID via DNS or HTTPS.
This separation means that if your hosting provider disappears tomorrow, you can migrate your DID to a new PDS and your followers will follow automatically. The identity layer is decoupled from the social graph.