Substack, like Medium or even WordPress, is a blogging platform. It allows writers and other creators to own their own platform and collect donations from readers to support their work. Some more well-known journalists or podcasters could supplement or replace their income with it. It’s a way to break free from traditional publishing models that challenge journalists to create SEO and clickbait content to drive clicks alongside real reporting. Writing for yourself is why I started this blog in the first place!
Earlier this week, Substack introduced “Notes.” This takes the blogging platform and makes it a bit more micro. Yes, it’s a microblogging platform, like Mastodon, Tumblr, or the most infamous microblogging platform, Twitter.
Twitter didn’t take the news lightly. The idea that another website was creating a competitor, one that is backed by a more fulfilling blogging service and actual revenue model was probably just too much for Twitter’s capricious ruler, Elon Musk.
Musk’s website now blocks tweet embeds on Substack. Musk’s pettiness went a step further, with the site blocking users from spreading tweets that contain substack links. This means users can’t retweet or even like tweets with Substack links, ensuring the tweets mentioning those stories are quickly forgotten.
Twitter’s becoming a closed-off space that serves only one user: Elon Musk. This petty and childish move is the latest in a long line of decisions that make Twitter not only annoying to use, but actively antagonistic towards its own users. From the site that now spreads the words of accused stochastic terrorists and relaxed anti-hate rules, now it does whatever its petty “Chief Twit” feels like doing. The whims of a petty narcissist are certainly not a strong business model, and make for an even weaker platform. Creators need to know the platform they stand on won’t crumble. With Twitter, that’s no longer a guarantee.
UPDATE: Twitter has since stopped throttling Substack, with a few remaining limitations.
Twitter Blockade
You can’t embed tweets on Substack. I can here, I’ve just chosen to instead take screenshots and link to the tweets instead, so you don’t actually have to go to Twitter to see what someone said there. You’re welcome. Still, many, obviously, find this feature useful. Now their blogs can’t feature them.
That wasn’t the only consequence of Substack’s expanding feature set. Twitter also started blocking anyone from sharing tweets related to Substack. Someone could still tweet a Substack link, but no one could retweet or like a post that contained Substack content. Instead, they’d receive an error, stating, “Some actions on this Tweet have been disabled by Twitter.” Some have reported issues tweeting anything with a Substack link as well.
There are two possibilities here. The first is that the blocks of Substack tweet interactions on Twitter was intentional, and part of Musk’s attack against the platform. The second is that Musk was not aware that, by taking away the ability to embed a tweet in a Substack page, he’d create an issue for tweets already on Twitter. A rushed retaliation breaking more than he intended to would be a very Elon Musk thing to do.
For now, Substack and Twitter aren’t getting along. They may never. Until then, Substack authors looking to share their work on Twitter can still sidestep the block by using a URL shortener. It seems Musk’s service is just doing a simple string check on the URL itself, and not following the links to see where they go. For now, you can share your Substack work via Twitter… if you really still want to.
It Was Never About “Free Speech”
We’re disappointed that Twitter has chosen to restrict writers’ ability to share their work. Writers deserve the freedom to share links to Substack or anywhere else. This abrupt change is a reminder of why writers deserve a model that puts them in charge, that rewards great work with money, and that protects the free press and free speech. Their livelihoods should not be tied to platforms where they don’t own their relationship with their audience, and where the rules can change on a whim.
– Substack statement from Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Seth, founders of Substack, to The Verge
For Elon Musk, a man who has interacted with his most transphobic users and spread anti-trans sentiment himself, it was never about “free speech,” it was about hate speech, specifically, his own. He ruined one of the best websites for sharing ideas, creations, and news on the internet for something as stupid as some hate speech. That’s it. Imagine hating a small group of people so much you’d burn your own house down to spite them.
When Musk took over Twitter, he said it was for free speech, for balancing the scales between left and right. Twitter, I’ll remind you, already skewed to the right, according to its own studies on the matter. However, he has since banned comedians (not transphobic ones though), unbanned fascists and far-right provocateurs, and took every petty swing he could. He took away The New York Times’ blue checkmark because they said they wouldn’t pay him for it. It’s the kind of petty tantrum-like behavior we’ve come to expect from Musk.
It’s clear Twitter, as a platform, isn’t a safe space for creators to share their work. It’s a place ran by a capricious egomaniac. If you can’t trust the relationship between creators and the platform they use to share their work, why continue to use it? Musk’s “free speech network” was clearly always about making Twitter into his own playground, something he’s taken advantage of before. This was a reminder that not only does the platform not have its users’ interests at heart, it really isn’t a stable place to share anything. Twitter’s turning on creators. Who will they have left?
Sources:
- Kyle Barr, Gizmodo
- Mitchell Clark, The Verge
- Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica
- Dan Milmo, The Guardian
- Jay Peters, The Verge