Posted on 04/10/2023 2:12:07 AM PDT by spirited irish
Americans woke up on Good Friday 2023 – the first Easter weekend in three years that held out the possibility that it would be somewhat normal – to a grim reality on Twitter. It was consistently blocking all engagement from any post with a link to Substack. I first saw the rumor and then tested it. It was and is true.
This came as a devastating shock to many of our best independent writers and thinkers who have found a home on Substack. They gain followers on Twitter and post their material, which inspires subscriptions and makes it possible for them to have a life and means of support. Without that ability, many careers will be devastated.
(Excerpt) Read more at patriotandliberty.com ...
Elon Musk said that Substack was stealing proprietary material from Twitter, like client lists and stuff.
It would only make sense for Twitter to create a rival to Substack to keep users on the platform. I doubt Elon would sit idly by while Substack creators use Twitter to build a following and then draw those users over to Substack.
Whether Musk’s accusation is true or not is unknown. But what we do know is that he feels the need to publicly present some kind of plausible excuse for shutting substack down.
Substack wants to be Twitter? Or was stealing Twitter’s database for some nameless/faceless 3-letter agency? Either way, Musk had to defend his property. And so much for Substack being one of the “white hats” on the Innertubes.
G
What a mess! Perhaps the best thing is for Sub Stack to continue reshaping its platform in order to become more Twitter-like. Then the two platforms can peacefully coexist as separate entities.
Not sure who started it. Substack is coming up with Substack Notes which is basically a Twitter-like social network. At the same time, Musk wants to create a feature for people to write articles, like Substack.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/05/substacks-new-short-form-notes-feed-looks-a-lot-like-twitter/
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1644638493883211779
1. Substack links were never blocked. Matt [Taibbi]’s statement is false.
2. Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted.
3. Turns out Matt[Taibbi] is/was an employee of Substack.
Twitter isn’t blocking Substack URLs, per se. They *are* disabling comments and likes on any tweets that link to a Substack article *or* which are retweets of a tweet with a link to a Substack article.
So it’s true that they’re not “blocking Substack,” but they are basically trying to make it impossible (and therefore not worthwhile) to interact with Substack articles.
Thank you for explaining the feud.
But that still leaves questions or maybe I just have not kept up with Twitter changes?
Twitter doesn’t monetize content as far as I am aware. Second, is must going to dissuade writers and creators because they are using other platforms that do monetize? Have a YouTube channel that is monetized, you cannot post a link to Twitter or tweets regarding a video cannot be shared? Same with Rumble? What about tweeting about your teaching/learning group on Facebook that is pay to enter? Is Musk going to stop them too?
See, I do not understand why it is just Substack? There are some good bloggers/authors over on Substack and at this point Twitter doesn’t offer a long form content.
Yes, that's the question.
CCP Musk should answer it.
It is not “just” Substack.
I personally cannot put a URL in my response to anyone. It is so bad, that I could not post a photo of my cat, Smidgen.
If I Tweet a link, I must use a bit shortener. Then it goes through.
That has even quit working, most of the byte shortener services force you to sigh up.
They just keep tightening the screws. I’ve been on Twitter since 2009, 14 years. It got better for several weeks after Musk bought the company and fired 75% of the staff.
Then, forces external to Twitter were back in the act from many sources. They are not all government bases, but the vast majority are.
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